


Memories of Past Love

by foryoureyesonly1



Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace Lives, Amnesia, Canon Rewrite, Eventual Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Memory Loss, Mental Anguish, Mental Breakdown, Mental Instability, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2020-04-05 02:17:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19039150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foryoureyesonly1/pseuds/foryoureyesonly1
Summary: After the defeat of Doflamingo, Sabo is about to kill Burgess, when the Devil Fruit Hunter offers him a deal that he cannot refuse."I know a Devil Fruit user that can help you to get your brother back. If you let me live,  I'll take you to her."He knows that this could be a trap, but there is no way that Sabo will let the chance to save the boy he loved go. The pain that he never got to meet a grown up Ace, never told him how he felt and the realisation that Ace died not knowing that he was alive, all tear Sabo apart day by day.So, he goes on a journey that threatens to rip his already fragile mind apart, to bring back the one that he lost.





	1. PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

The birdcage dissolved, bathing the battered up kingdom in the warm glow of sunlight.

"Looks like it's over." Sabo smiled. Luffy had gotten so strong now, that his brotherly pride was almost too much. He started to walk away, leaving the captain of Blackbeard's first ship on the ground.

"Aren't you going to finish me off?" Burgess asked, panting.

"There's no need." Sabo adjusted his hat, turning his back on the pirate. Now that there was no danger to Luffy, there was no need for him to keep fighting.

"Wihahahaha! All you brothers are too kind." Burgess laughed. Sabo stopped walking and the transponder snail in his pocket started ringing. He turned to face the pirate.

"After losing to our captain on Banaro Island, Ace had something to say before being handed over to the Navy. Wanna hear it?" Burgess asked. Of course he wanted to. Sabo had been chasing pieces of Ace these past two years, fragments in the places that he'd been to. The Flare Flare Fruit was his goal. He had thought that if he ate this fruit, and gained Ace's powers, he would feel closer to him.

"Wihahaha! You'll laugh when you hear it." Burgess crawled on the ground, towards the revolutionary, laughing. "He realised that he was gonna get executed, so he said, 'Don't tell my brother.'"

And like that, Sabo felt as though his heart was being wrenched forcefully out of his chest. As if all the pain and sorrow was going to suffocate him and break him right there. He balled his hands into fists, and tears stung his eyes, but Burgess wasn't done yet.

"What an idiot! He had no idea how much he was worth. If Fire Fist Ace got caught by the Navy, the news would get spread all over the world. The Navy would make 120% use of his pathetic life-"

A force of rage seized Sabo. Ace was never pathetic. Never. The entirety of this conversation unleashed the darkness that he kept locked up inside, and before he knew it, he held Burgess' head in his claws and squeezed.

"That's enough. Stop talking." He said dangerously, feeling the impending cracks on the pirate's skull. "How he felt when he passed away, I've thought about it repeatedly every single night since that day." Memories of seeing that article, of seeing his beloved's face under it. Of the flood of emotions and memories of the past that gripped that night. Just the thought of it was enough to break him again. "So you don't have to tell me, because I know it all!"

Sabo's hand shook, with the grief and internal turmoil, if he squeezed a little harder, Burgess' skull would be shattered in his claws.

Burgess smiled. "You're regretting it, aren't you? Because you didn't go to rescue him even though you had the title and the power. You weren't there, were you? Were you taking a nap or something? You couldn't get there when he needed you the most, what kind of brother is that? Pathetic!"

This guy was pushing all his buttons, setting his mind ablaze with regret and selfloathing. This constant state of turmoil had been distracting from his work at first, but after two years of never finding peace in his mind, he had adjusted, and could even use his Observation Haki like this. The distress had become his normal state of mind. As a result, he was able to get out of the way of Burgess' knife attack by jumping to the side and letting his head go.

"That's why I don't want to have any more regrets." Sabo said, jumping back. "Fire Fist!" The flames engulfed the stunned pirate, sending him crashing into a building and making it explode.

Sabo looked at him, still barely alive. "I don't care about taking your life, but this fire inside me, Ace is saying he won't forgive you!" He prepared to attack, this time to land a fatal blow. "Burning Dragon Claw Fist-"

"W-wait. I can help you get rid of that regret!" Burgess said.

Sabo paused, clearly the man was only seeking to save his own life. "Ace is dead. There is no ending it."

"Yes there is, I know a way that you can save your brother."

Sabo cursed the sliver of hope building in his heart. "I'm not stupid. You can't trick me."

"Wait! You know that I'm a Devil Fruit Hunter, right? I didn't just come here for the Flare Flare Fruit!" Burgess told him. "I know a Devil Fruit user that can help you to get your brother back. If you let me live, I'll take you to her."

"Someone already ate the Revive Revive Fruit, and they can't bring back other people from the dead. No more lies. Dragon Claw-"

"The Travel Travel Fruit! She can travel through anything, even back in time." He shouted, and Sabo's fist stopped in mid air.

"T-time travel?" Sabo asked breathlessly. "Talk!"

Burgess sat up.  
"Captain Teach sent me to kidnap a woman. Doflamingo has been using her powers for years to stay on top of his game as Joker. If a deal goes wrong or something, she sends him to the past, and changes the future." He explained. "He was keeping her prisoner until I broke into his house a few days ago and kidnapped her. He assumes, of course that it was done pre-emptively by Trafalgar Law and Straw Hat to prevent him from stopping Ceasar's kidnapping."

"If she can really travel through time, why doesn't she just go back to a time before Doflamingo captured her?" Sabo questioned, daring to calm the monster of hope that was clawing it's way out of his chest.

Trying to deter the voice that kept telling him that he could go to Marineford and save Ace. They would be together again.

"Obviously he has found some way to control her. That's why Captain Teach wants her." Burgess told him.

"Take me to her." Sabo demanded. But Burgess looked doubtful. "I won't kill you, I promise." Sabo said.

And so began the rollercoaster that was set to imprison his mind in endless waves of shattering realities.

***


	2. Lady Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Sleep now gently my darling love,  
> Don't let my worries trouble you  
> People try hard to forget  
> But memory will always stay  
> Nightmares and dreams of long passed things  
> Try and chase me away from sleep  
> All that time I spent in the dark  
> Just like that, in the light;  
> Everything will be fine."
> 
> -Shan Gao (The Road Not Taken)

_The first time that Sabo met Ace, he was five years old. Back then, all he had wanted was to see the world outside of High Town, to know what lay behind those walls. That was why he had begun sneaking out of the city, walking all the way out to Gray Terminal, the place that his father referred to a the 'gathering hole of all trash'. He had met all kinds of people there, but what he enjoyed the most was listening to the old men's stories about free sailing on the sea._

_The whole idea of freedom was intriguing to him, and on this particular day, he had been listening to a story about how the old man and his crew mates were chased down by a giant sea king the one time that they attempted to enter the Grand Line. After that, they had given up on trying to take on the monstrous sea in favour of a few adventures across the East Blue.  
The story was great, but it was getting late now, and he was supposed to have been home hours ago. Not that he wanted to go back, but he had nowhere to stay in this place, no friends, he had seriously been thinking about running away from home for a while now but had not had the courage to brave the streets of this Kingdom by himself. Even though his parents suffocated him with their endless rules and expectations, there was nothing he could do about it yet._

_Sabo started running towards the gate carelessly and then he slipped on a banana peel, but caught himself before falling. A few bills dropped from his pocket, and as he bent to pick up the money, he tripped over a pipe._

_"Watch where you're going, idiot." A small, black haired boy said picking up the money and casting him a dark look. Even in the darkness of the looming evening light, Sabo could see the freckles dotting his cheeks. On anyone else, they would be cute, but under the death glare that the boy was sending, they served only to enhance his menacing look._

_His father had warned him about the dangerous criminals at Gray Terminal, so Sabo knew that he should let the little thief continue walking on his merry way. However, this was the first child his age that he had ever seen here._

_"Oi. That's my money. Give it back." Sabo said._

_"If it was important to you, you should have taken better care of it." Was the curt reply. Ace didn't even turn back._

_His father would have found it appalling how rude the boy was, just the thought of this made Sabo very annoyed and he picked up a rock and threw it at him. It was small, so it didn't leave a mark on the back of the boy's head, but it must have hurt, because when he turned, his eyes were glistening and he looked pissed._

_'He's going to kill me.' Sabo thought._

_"Don't you know that it's rude to hit people from behind?" Ace barked._

_Pretending not to be afraid, Sabo retorted. "No better than tripping people up and stealing their money."_

_"I'm going to kill you!" Ace lunged towards him, but Sabo ran. He was no good at fighting at this point in time and just put trust in his legs._

_As Ace chased him, Sabo found himself having fun, occasionally turning around to make faces so as to aggravate the other boy. One such time, Ace, instead of looking angry looked alarmed. "Look where you're-" he warned, but it was too late._

_Sabo fell into a pitfall trap._

_When Sabo woke up, he was in a dark cave, illuminated only by a small fire. There was the smell of roast meat in the air as he rubbed his eyes._

_"You're finally awake." Ace said from where the fire was._

_There was a sharp pain in Sabo's ankle and he glanced at it, seeing some weird leaves on it. He winced. "What happened?" He asked._

_"What happened? An idiot fell into the Dwoxy Pirates trap, and fainted! You weren't even that hurt! Why the hell did I have to carry you all the way out here?" Ace shouted in an annoyed voice._

_"Oh? You saved me? Why?"_

_"How dumb are you? Everybody knows that whatever falls into that trap, gets sold off by the Dwoxy Pirates. Doesn't matter what it is." Ace turned away._

_"Oh, so you were feeling guilty because it was your fault that I got caught in there?" Sabo grinned._

_"Huh?! How the hell was that my fault you-"_

_"Thank you." Sabo sat up. Ace, caught by surprise, mumbled something before sitting back down by the fire._

_"What's your name? Mine's Sabo."_

_"None of your business."_

_"Hmm. Then I'll just call you Freckles." Sabo looked up. "Hey Freckles, I'm hungry, do you have anything to eat?"_

_"I'm not sharing my food. This is Gray Terminal. Each man for himself." He munched on a large piece of meat._

_Sabo limped out of the corner. "Come on, Freckles, I'm injured and it's your fault. Besides, even here people make friends and they stick together."_

_"I don't make friends." Something about the way he said that, Sabo found to be extremely lonely._

_He snatched up the piece of meat that Ace was about to eat and looked at it. "I don't doubt it, not with that personality of yours. Don't worry, I'll be your friend."_

_"Give that back! Why would I want to be your friend?"_

_"Because I'm new here. I'll need a friend in order to learn my way around. Come on Freckles, you're not gonna turn me down when I need you, are you?" Sabo examined the poorly cooked piece of meat._

_"Y-you need me?" Ace's voice was quiet._

_Sabo turned to look at him. "Of course I do. And you clearly need me too, I mean this is the same as eating raw meat!"_

_"Shut up! I only catch, Dadan always makes the food." Ace crossed his arms._

_"Who's Dadan?"_

_"Just this old hag that I live with. And my name is not Freckles." The boy looked up at him, his narrowed eyes seeming less malicious than before. "It's Ace."_

_Sabo beamed. "Well, Ace, go get some more wood outside so I can make us some proper food."_

_"I already told you, I ain't sharing my catch with you." He grumbled._

_"Friends share. Next time, when my ankle heals, I'll catch the food." Sabo said. Ace uttered a complaint and then went outside to pick more firewood._

_Sabo smiled. He had just made his first friend, and he knew that there was no way in hell he was going back to High Town._

_He didn't know it then, of course, but he'd also just met his first, and only, love._

***

Burgess led Sabo towards the underground port, the latter watching him carefully for any suspicious movements. He did not trust this man at all. He was a vile person, willing to do whatever he had to to get what he wanted. Nothing Sabo had ever heard about the Blackbeard Pirates was ever good. Perhaps he was biased against them, after all, Blackbeard was the whole reason why Ace....

Burgess had come to Dressrossa in a small ship in order not to draw attention to himself, that was why he had entered the tournament under the alias of Mr. Store. There were a few of his subordinates on board, and they could clearly see that their boss was being threatened by Sabo. As soon as the two of them got on deck, Burgess' subordinates took out their swords and guns preparing to fight.

"Oh, my men are pretty loyal! Wihahaha!" Burgess laughed.

"What a pain." Sabo mumbled and made quick work of them, rendering them unconscious. "I'm not fooling around, Burgess, take me to this woman now!"

He was anxious, scared and apprehensive. What if there was no way to save Ace after all and he had gotten his hopes up for nothing? He supposed he would have to take Burgess' life as a consolation prize but he doubted that killing would quell his heart.

It hadn't worked in the past two years.

He was led down the steps of the small ship, to its very base. There was a dark room in there, and prison cell. An older woman was lying on the floor at the brig of the ship. She was wearing a black dress, tattered on the sides. She looked to be about in her late fifties. She had dark brown hair and golden eyes that narrowed when Burgess and Sabo came in. She had seastone chains wrapped around her hands.

"Oi, even if she's a prisoner, that's no way to treat a woman." Sabo said harshly. "Remove the chains."

"Wait, what if she leaves after I do that?" Burgess complained.

"What's it matter? She's mine now, isn't she?" Sabo glared at the purple haired pirate and he recoiled. Burgess quickly undid the chains holding her, and the woman sat up and stretched her arms and legs. She glanced at Sabo.

"Well done, Burgess. I'll keep my end of the deal. Armament: Hardening." With his Haki infused fist, Sabo caught the pirate by surprise, punching him and knocked Burgess out.

"Are you my new owner?" The woman asked in a quiet, suspicious voice. "I wonder how much I'm worth now, a slave like me would have fetched at least a 100 million a few years ago, when I was younger and more attractive."

"I don't desire your body." He assured her. As a member of the Revolutionary Army, he had seen first hand the horrors that female slaves went through. It made him sick to his stomach, even old women and children were not exempt from this horrible treatment.

The lady smiled. "Then you must be the worst kind. The ones who desire my power with no regard for what it does to my body."

Sabo couldn't find a suitable response to this. It was mostly true.

"Where do you want to go? How many miles, and how quickly? Any master is better than Doflamingo, I suppose. I'll take you wherever you want to go before I escape. I always pay my debts." She said.

"What is your name?" Sabo asked, a little amused by her blatant admission of her desire to escape. She seemed surprised by his question.

"Lami." She said finally.

"Lami. My name is Sabo. Can you please tell me the way that your Devil Fruit works?"

She settled down on the floor, arms crossed. "The Travel Travel Fruit. I can travel through anything, walls, people, minds, space..." She said. "Except, I guess, Sea Prism Stone. I can also take other people with me on the journey, or send them alone."

"And what about, time?" Sabo's voice was barely a whisper now. Lami looked up.

"So, that's what you're after?" She shook her head. "I can send you back in time or to the future. I prefer the future though. The past is messy. When do you want to go?"

"Marineford. Two years ago." Sabo said.

The woman's face paled. "You're kidding right? That's impossible. If you want to change an event like that.... Two years? Why do you think I haven't gone back to that time? I would be free! Sorry, but I can't help you."

 

"Why not?" He slid down the wall and fell to the ground. He covered his head with his hands. Damnit! Why did he get his hopes uo at the prospect of seeing Ace again, of saving him? Why did he want to make himself whole again when he knew that his other half was dead? Stupid hope.

"Sabo-kun, how old do you think I am?" Lami sighed.

 

"Why?"

 

"Just answer the question."

 

Maybe she could still help him, he thought. It was best not to offend her, he knew how women got about their ages. He was sure she looked about in her fifties. "Maybe, forty?" He said.

Lami laughed. "Aren't you sweet? I know I look sixty." She said. "But I'm actually 23."

Sabo stared at her in disbelief.

"You think travelling through time has no consequences? For every thirty days that I time travel, I age a year. That means that for every year, I age 12 years of my life. I have sent Doflamingo so many times into the future and brought him back so many times that I don't even know how many years I've lost!"

"You said that you can travel through anything, so why did you not escape?" Sabo asked.

"Travelling through space-time has dire consequences for me. To travel through space, to teleport, means sending every part of the body from one place to another. You understand? I have to be aware of moving every single body cell, at the exact same time to a precise location over a precise distance. It's impossible to get it right. I've lost many internal organs in the past...the only thing holding them together is Doflamingo's strings. But, the strings came loose today, I guess he was defeated. I can feel the internal bleeding already, my whole body has been shutting down for days."

"I'm sorry." Sabo said honestly. "Is that how he was able to keep a leash on you?"

"Going to the past is pretty simple, it erases the current timeline, there was no way Doflamingo would let me do that. No. He made me send him to the future, once every week, to take a look at business in the next month, once every month, taking a look at the next couple of years. Like I said, for every thirty days that I time travel, I age a year. So I would send him to the future, then bring him back. After all, if I didn't, my insides would bleed out and I would die."

Lami sighed. "I heard about a Time Time Fruit, it can't go to the past but it can send people to the future, to stay there. I wish I had gotten that one, because it doesn't have the side effects that mine does." She told him. "My fruit is for travelling and the future is not set in stone, so it's not a real destination because it can change anytime. My fruit only takes you through the journey, you can look at the future, but you can't stay there, there's nowhere to disembark. Last week, when I sent Doflamingo to his future, next month, none of this happened in his future. There must have been a chance, a variable, or unexpected coincidence. You know how journeys can change at the last minute."

"It was Luffy." Sabo smiled. Strong Luffy. Luffy had somehow recovered from his pain in the last two years. He was glad that at least one of them would be able to remember Ace as not just the pain, but also ten years of memories that he didn't have. A part of him wondered, which was worse, watching someone you loved die in front of you, while you were powerless to save them or to read of their death in the paper...and suddenly have all the memories of them flooding back.

"Look, this isn't just about me, if I did send you back, you'd suffer too. Sending someone to the past is easy, sure I do age, but when I send someone to the past, that timeline is erased, so the me that ages is wiped from existence. I still exist in the past that they gets sent to. Here, the effects are going to be on the person I send. Basically, it's me just transporting your consciousness to your younger body, of course, then you've got two consciousnesses, sharing one mind. It is confusing if it's not done right and can break your mind, I'm talking some serious brain damage. And you want to go two years? You don't want that." Lami said.

"I don't care." Sabo said.

"You probably think I'm joking, but I'm not. I've had people that I've never met before coming up to me and trying to kill me because in the future that they came from, I sent them back in time. Every last one of them was unhinged, Sabo-kun. I can't let you damage your mind like that!" She explained.

"Brain damage?" Sabo shivered. "It is because of this stupid brain that I have that I forgot about Ace, for ten years! It scares me that my mind was able to function just fine for those ten years without him in it, and yet it feels like my entire existence has been a lie, because he wasn't there. My brain is a mess, a little more tinkering with it won't destroy it!" He was willing to sacrifice the useless brain of his if it meant saving Ace. He would give anything. Any damn thing, any part of him, his life, whatever it took to save Ace.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I've never sent anyone back more than a few months. Aging 24 years in one day? I don't even want to know what that's like. You can kill me if you want, but, I don't know if I can." She said.

He had prepared for this. It didn't matter. He knew he was lying to himself, but even if he started crying right this second, it wouldn't bring Ace back. No, all that was left was the empty shell that was his heart.

"I won't kill you."

"The Paramount War was an ugly time. Why would you want to go there? You said Ace earlier, did you know him?" Lami enquired.

"Portgas D. Ace was my brother. I want to save him." Sabo bit his lip. He would not cry.

"A brother huh? I also have a brother that I can't go back to. Mine's alive though. I know he's close, but I can't reach him." Lami said sadly. "All I wanted was to find my brother, but because I'm so stupid, I got myself chained up in seastone cuffs, and captured by slave traders before being taken from the auction house by Doflamingo." She squeezed her eyes shut.

"You should try to reach him. There's nothing worse than regret. Trust me." Sabo advised.

It was strange, he had met this woman less than an hour ago, but he felt at ease with her. If they had met earlier, they could have been friends. He could see, even though her body had aged, that she still had a youthful heart. What Doflamingo had done to her was cruel.

"I can't teleport without hurting myself. I can't go back to my brother like this. I can't go back to my younger body because I'd be adding all the years that I've accumulated into her body, giving her more brain damage as well. I would just die earlier." She paused. "Perhaps, that would be best."

"Don't say that. I'm sure that your brother will be happy to see you. Even like this, I know that I would give anything to see-" Sabo tried to assure he but she cut him off.

"Let's do it." She said standing up, wiping her tears. "I'll send you back."

"Wh-what? Lami, I can't take all those years from you, I couldn't!"

"Forget about me. My life has been nothing but travelling, bad journey after bad journey, I've only lived twenty three years but I feel as old as I look. I have seen so much death, ever since I was seven and my city was destroyed. A part of me wishes I'd died then, with my parents. Before I found this fruit and walked to the future. Before my life became made up of nothing but pain." She was crying now. "The irony is that even though I found a cure in the future, I couldn't back to the time before I ate the fruit. I couldn't save anyone!"

"Calm down." Sabo said touching her shoulder.

She turned to him. "I'll send you back. You can save your brother, and maybe you can save me too." She said. "Doflamingo captured me from the human auction house on July 21. He couldn't bring me to Dressrossa until a week later because of the war. After you save your brother, will you save me too? If I went back, I would just get there only to die in my younger body."

Was she really going to send him back? He thought he had discarded the hope, but it was alive, burning as hot as Ace's fire inside of him right now. If she did not care about losing 24 years, then why should he? He would save Ace, and then in his gratitude he would save her from Doflamingo. She would never have to feel this way again.

"I promise. I will save you." He swore.

For the first time that night, a genuinely happy smile painted her face.

"Meissner Hotel, in the Sabaody Archipelago. That's where I will be." She said. "Now, lie down on the floor. I'll send you back."

"Wait, right now?" Sabo asked.

"If we lose more time, the amount of days I can send you back also reduces. As it is, I'm not sure if I will be able to sur-...to send you back to the exact date you want." She said hastily.

Sabo lay down on the floor, looking up. He could not stop himself from shaking. He could actually save Ace if this was successful.

"Close your eyes." Lami said, standing over him. "You remember the date, right?"

"I can never forget it. It is etched into my very soul, night and day I go back to that day, it's the last day that Ace ever saw." He said quietly closing his eyes; "Marineford, July 23, 15:09 PM."

"It won't be easy, I'll have to put my all into it but, I'll send you back to that morning." She said.

"Wait, no. I was on my way to Baltigo that morning. There's no way I can make it to Marineford in time. If I redirect the course, I can make it if you send me to the night before."

Lami flinched. "Do you realise how hard it already is to send you to that time? Damn. Alright, the most I can do, that's stretching my very existence to the maximum, is to send you to the day before." She placed both her hands on his face. "I won't lie to you, this is going to hurt like hell."

Sabo smiled sadly, "Nothing new to me then."

He felt the a strange sort of sensation, like he was underwater. The pain was sharp, as if someone was performing brain surgery on him but without anaesthesia. He wanted to scream out loud but he was suffocating, drowning in the water. He opened his eyes and saw on the surface of the water, swirling with the waves...an old woman, barely able to stand. Blood was leaking from her eyes, nose and mouth.

"Lami?"

"I...told you...ke...keep your eyes....closed..." She coughed.

He realised what was happening, what adding 24 years to her life was doing.

"You're dying... You knew that you were going to die! Why would you die for me?" He asked.

"This...timeline...will vanish...with me." She breathed. "Where you're..... going, I'm still alive. I don't expect you to.... keep a promise to..... a woman who doesn't exist .....anymore. But you are..... young Lami's only hope."

"I will save you. I promise." He tried to say, but the water was pulling him farther away from her, down into a whirlpool of darkness, surrounded only by the stabbing pain, like his brain was being torn apart and put back together.

Drowning.

Pain.

Numbness.

Darkness.

A distant voice.

"I'm sending.....you back now, two years.... in time. I hope....you can save him... I hope you..... can save us."

Drowning.

Pain.

Darkness.

**Two Years Ago**

I'm sending.....you back now, two years.... in time. I hope....you can save him... I hope you..... can save us." The voice said in his head.

Sabo jolted awake.

He was sleeping in the crow's nest of his ship. He stood up, he was sure that voice was real, that it was not a dream. His body felt strangely colder than it had been a minute ago, like he was missing something, a part of him. He was sure that this body was not the same one that he had been in. Then was it real? Had he really been sent two years back in time?

He certainly remembered the voice, and that she had sent him here, to his past body. That much he was sure of, this was the Grand Line, it wasn't surprising that someone with the power to send him back in time existed. But such a convenient power had to come at a serious cost. He cursed his mind. But still to travel back two years?

What could he have come back for? In two years the Reverie was taking place, had something gone wrong in their plans? Had they lost the war? Was Dragon-san dead? Was that who he was supposed to save? For him to have made such a life-changing decision, something serious must have happened.

Damn it, if the Revolutionary Army had been wiped out and they needed someone to save them by sending their consciousness back in time, why send him? Why would they send someone who had clearly shown that his mind could not handle so much trauma?

The only thing he seemed to remember was a date and a location, as if even his fragile mind could not forget that date. It echoed with a touch of melancholy inside his brain.

He kicked the side of the ship in frustration. Why couldn't he remember the reason why he had come back?

***


	3. Memory Lane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're the light, you're the night  
> You're the colour of my blood  
> You're the cure, you're the pain  
> You're the only thing I wanna touch  
> Never knew that it could mean so much, so much  
> You're the fear, I don't care  
> 'Cause I've never been so high  
> Follow me to the dark  
> Let me take you past our satellites  
> You can see the world you brought to life, to life
> 
> Ellie Goulding (Love Me Like You Do)

_"Marineford, July 23, 15:09 PM."_

If the voice hadn't been so vivid, Sabo would have thought that he'd woken up from a particularly nasty dream fuelled by his lack of sleep in the past month. It was strange, he could remember clearly everything from the past ten years, nothing before, nothing after. But he knew it, in his heart he knew, that there was a sense of urgency, a need to remember. He had something that he needed to do, someone to save.

The sharp pain cut through his head like a damn lightning bolt.

_"Who are you? Where am I?"_

Sabo screamed. That was his voice, he'd heard himself inside his own head, and it wasn't like a thought or anything. What was going on? What was he-

"Sabo-kun! Are you okay?" He heard Koala coming up to him, and composed himself as best as he could. He did not want to make her worry about him. He grabbed some water from the table and drank it, sitting down.

"Yes, I'm fine." He lied. He was not fine.

Koala bit her lip. "Was it another memory from your childhood?"

He looked up at her face which was scrunched up with worry. That's right, he always saw shadows, whispers of memories, of two children, but as soon as he reached out to to touch them, they vanished into thin air. Leaving nothing but a splitting headache. He had tried and failed, for years to regain his memories. How the hell was he supposed to save anyone if he could not remember what it was he was saving them from.

Koala was still waiting expectantly for an answer. 

"Yes, sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you." Sabo forced a smile. He stood up and went down to the deck, watching the sea. "By the way, what day is it today?"

"You never keep track of important dates, Sabo-kun. Well, I understand this time, I mean, we were in a rural country for over a month so we didn't get much news." She sighed. "It's July 22."

  _"Marineford, July 23, 15:09 PM."_

Of course. It was not a coincidence that that date and location kept disturbing his thoughts. No, he was sent to today for a reason, to prevent whatever was happening at Marineford the following day. He looked at the sky, surveyed the sea. There was an island just up ahead. If he changed courses quickly enough, he would be able to make it.

Sabo called out to the helmsman of the small crew that was with him. "Tetsu, change course, we're going east." He said.

"But Chief, Baltigo is up north," Tetsu said.

"I know, but something came up. You'll have to drop me off at the next island."

"Sabo-kun, what are you talking about?" Koala asked after Tetsu had left. “Why would you want to get off at Firo Island?”

“I have somewhere that I need to go.”

“Where are you going? I thought you said you wanted to get to Baltigo and report to Dragon-san as soon as possible so that we could rest.” Koala argued.

“Yeah I know I said that, but this is more important.”

“What is more important?”

“I need to go to Marineford.” Sabo picked up his coat from the ground.

“Why? What are you talking about? That's the Navy's Headquarters!” Koala frowned.

“I know, but it's something that I have to do.”

“I don't understand you at all today.” Koala shook her head. “Wait, did Dragon-san give you a secret order?” she asked.

Sabo turned away, and looked at the sea. “If he had, do you really think I would tell you?”

Koala sighed, and went back inside the ship. It was fine if she thought that Sabo had received a secret order and would not say anything to the others. He would have to call Dragon-san later to explain everything but for now he was keeping his true identity a secret. So when the ship docked at the harbour, Sabo got off. Koala was worried about letting him go on his own, but he reassured her that he was fine and didn't want her to come with him.

“Just hurry and make the report about what happened to Dragon-san. I'll take care of this and I'll be home as soon as I can. I promise.”

Koala nodded, and Sabo went into the island. The first thing that he noticed about the island was the sheer lack of presence of Navy soldiers at the harbour, they usually swarmed the place and were always ready to prevent any pirates from coming into the city. It was strange but the place seemed to be quite subdued there weren't many people at the harbour and Sabo walked into the nearest bar. It was half empty but there were few men in the corner talking and drinking and having an argument.

“No way, man. Whitebeard is definitely gonna win.” One of them said. 

“Come on, he's an old man now. It's nothing like he was in his prime!” 

“You can't just underestimate him like that!” 

“Aren't you guys jumping the gun? What if he doesn't even go to save him?” The third man pointed out. 

“Are you kidding? Whitebeard letting his man die? That's just bullshit.”

“There's no way he and his crew are gonna beat the Admirals, the Warlords and all the Navy soldiers that are gonna be there. It's impossible man.” the man slammed his drink down.

Sabo frowned. What was going on? He had no idea, but he wanted to know. He sat at the bar and looked at the bartender.

“What's going on? Is something happening tomorrow?”

She looked at him like he was mad. “Have you been living under a rock? How can you not know what's going on? Even children know!”

“Let's say that I have. What's going on?” he asked.

“The Navy is executing one of Whitebeard's men tomorrow.”

Sabo gasped. “What?”

“Yeah it's his second division commander, Portgas D. Ace. It's terrible but it seems like the Navy really want to pick a fight with Whitebeard for some reason. If you ask me they're just putting innocent people in danger.”

The bartender kept on talking but for Sabo, the moment he heard that name, he felt a tug in his heart, it was like a wave washed over his chest. A searing kind of pain, different from the one in his head. Heart ache, heavy heart, at hearing that name; Portgas D. Ace.

It seemed like the pain in his heart was going to strangle him. Why was this happening? Who was this pirate that would cause Sabo so much pain? Was it someone that he knew or was this war that the Navy had started a trigger for whatever it is that he had come to stop? Was he supposed to stop the execution of this Portgas D. Ace himself?

Just what was it that caused the Revolutionary Army to send him back? What was it that led to the death of someone he cared about? What was going on? Why did this name hurt him so much? How come his heart remembered but his mind didn't?

“What time is the last ship to Sabaody Archipelago leaving from here?” He could get to Marineford from there.

“In less than an hour. But why would you want to go there, most people were buzzing toget the hell out of there, it's -”

Sabo got to his feet and rushed to the harbour. He bought a ticket and boarded the last ship to the Sabaody Archipelago. It was going to take all night to travel there from here.

He sat down inside the half full cruise ship. He knew it would take them all night from here to get to the Sabaody Archipelago, so he went into the kitchen and stole some food and then went and sat down on the bridge of the ship and after eating he allowed himself to fall asleep. No one disturbed him all night and when he woke up in the morning, he was actually surprised that he'd managed to sleep but it was almost as if his body had known that he needed to rest because today was going to be a long day.

***

The following day, the ship docked at the Sabaody Archipelago in Grove 47. Sabo got out of the ship and made his way across the archipelago inconspicuously. It was strange the Sabaody Archipelago was always usually packed but it seemed different today, people seemed to be heading towards specific locations and clustered there. He wondered if this was where news of the war was. He made his way to Grove 60 and sure enough they were watching the events that were transpiring in Marineford.

The people there watching through the visual transponder snail were reporters, pirates, citizens, everyone was there. The city was entirely packed. Sabo climbed onto the tree to get a better look at the Marineford Plaza. It was filled to the brim with Navy soldiers, the giants, Vice Admirals, Admirals and Warlords. Everyone held their breath as Ace was being brought up to the execution stand

There, on the visual transponder snail, he saw the man he presumed to be Portgas D. Ace reaching the execution platform, handcuffed.

He could not see his face clearly, but that did not seem to matter. His heart remembered him. It hurt to look at him, his heart ached so much that Sabo wanted to choke. He placed his hand over his chest to calm it, but the pain was real.

Sengoku began to talk: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have something to say. Portgas D. Ace will die here today. There is great meaning in his death." He paused. "Ace, say the name of your father."

Sabo frowned, and he seemed not to be the only one confused.

"My father is Whitebeard." Ace said.

"No."

"It's true! Whitebeard is my only father!" Ace insisted.

"A long time ago, we went on a desperate search because we feared that that man's child might be alive. Cipher Pol only had so much information, but we searched through all the pregnant women on that island  and found nothing." Sengoku paused. "That should have been it. But your mother gave her life for your birth. By performing a trick with sheer willpower, she deceived us, she deceived the whole world."

"Your mother was Portgas D. Rouge. She lived in the South Blue, Batelira island. We never imagined what she was capable of. Out of love, she carried her baby for 20 months in her womb. When she finally gave birth, she lost her strength, and died.

"One year and three months after the father's death, the child was born. He had the blood of the world's greatest villain. That was you. There's no way that you don't know. Your father was the Pirate King: Gol D. Roger!"

Silence, for a fraction of a second. Then all he'll broke loose.

But Sabo was lost in his own world, the news surprised him, but he felt, deep down, that he knew. That he'd known it for a long time. It took a while for the chaos to settle down, and the horror and judgement in people's faces to fade.

Sabo watched in shock as ships began to rise up the surface of Marineford Plaza .

Various pirate ships from the New World emerged, followed by Whitebeard's Moby Dick.

And so the fighting started. Wars held no interest to Sabo, he'd seen plenty of them as a member of thr Revolutionary Army. But now, he was only watching, listening to the thoughts in his head. How precious was this man, this Ace, that so many people were willing to sacrifice so much just to save him? What was it about him?

Sabo jumped down from the tree finally giving in to his heart's desire to go and save this man who caused him so much pain.

He wondered if perhaps Ace was one of those two faces that he always saw, somewhere beyond the reach of his memories.  

He ran towards Grove 66, the Navy base. He was sure that backup to Marineford would be leaving from there.

As he ran, he passed through various groves, glancing at the state of the war, until one made him stop, stand still. 

A giant ship was falling from the sky, along with an assortment of different characters. Most notably, a young dark haired boy wearing a straw hat and a blue haired comrade of his.

Sabo's mouth was agape. Why was Iva there? Was he the person that he had to save? Wait why was he with Crocodile, Jimbei and a familiar dark haired boy.

He felt another tug on his heart, a different one from the one he had felt with Ace. When he looked at that boy wearing a Straw Hat, there was relief, regret, joy and pride. Why? Who was this child?

Sabo watched closely as the boy looked around. He almost missed Crocodile's attempt at a sneak attack on Whitebeard, which the boy swiftly blocked. He then appeared to be having an argument with the king of the seas.

He kept on running, he did not have the luxury to sit and just watch after all. Time was running out.

“You're the only brother that I have left, so I don't care whether you want me to or not. I'm going to save you Ace! YOU'RE MY BROTHER!” A loud voice stopped him. It was on the visual feed from Marineford. The Straw Hat boy had said it.

 

His brother?

 

"He is Ace's adopted brother! His father is Monkey D. Dragon, the Revolutionary!" Sengoku's voice rang.

Sabo paled.

Dragon-san had a son?

Wait, this kid was his master's son?

Was this why Iva had decided to join in the war?

No, there was no time to waste. He was going to save this boy, and his brother. There was no way he would let Dragon-san's son die. Not after everything that the man had done for him. 

Sabo rushed over to Grove 66, where the Marine Base was. There were soldiers filing into a battleship, looking hurried. 

When he arrived there he saw the Navy battleship preparing to depart. Captain T-Bone, the skeletal looking captain was doing a head count of his men. Infiltrating Navy ships was something that Sabo was actually pretty good at. How many times had he done it? It was easy for him to sneak in and hide in the lower decks of the ship. He heaved a sigh of relief when the ship finally began to sail. He prepared to commandeer the ship.

Sabo attacked when he was sure that they had entered Marineford, and there would be no more identity checks. It wasn't hard to take over the ship, his only problems were the numbers and the captain. He did not have proper control over his Conquerer's Haki at this point in time and was unwilling to use it now, better to conserve his strength until he had to fight seriously. He did not want to use his Dragon Breath attack because that would mean destroying the ship as well, and he was planning on using the ship to help Ace and Luffy escape.

He had to physically fight the Navy soldiers, throwing them overboard with kicks, punches and attacks with his pipe. He fought until only the captain remained. 

"How dare you do this to my precious subordinates?" T-Bone asked. It was kind of ironic that the scary looking captain was so caring about his crew.

"Ship-cutter, right?" Sabo said. "Sorry but could you not cut this ship? I need it."

"An officer of the law does not yield to demands of criminals. Right Angle slash!" He swung his sword running towards Sabo who managed to dodge the strange attack easily. However, the slash cut the side ship.

Sabo sighed and spinned his pipe around swinging at the skeletal man, who blocked the attack with his sword. "I detest crooked weapons." T-Bone said.

Sabo kicked his legs from under him while was distracted, making the man stumble. "Sorry, I can't waste my time with you! Dragon Claw!" He grabbed the sword, breaking it and then kicked T-Bone off the ship.

***

He sailed the ship towards Marineford Plaza but no one really paid him any attention as they were too focused on the events happening on the plaza. The ship finally stopped when it reached an area of the sea that was frozen, and Sabo stood on the deck, watching what was happening, ready to jump in if he was needed. 

Whitebeard was shaking up the place, trying to sink Marineford into the sea, to grant safe passage to his sons, it was chaos, and Sabo watched as Ace bowed down before the man he considered a father, before joining his brother and running. Jimbei covered the two of them as they ran towards the rest of their comrades.

Sabo spotted a bunch of Whitebeard pirates.  
  
"Hey, take this and escape now. You should be able to fit in here right?" He said to Izou.  
  
“Who are you?” He asked. 

“That doesn't matter. I'm Ace's friend I'm here to save him. This place is going to sink in a few minutes take this ship and go.” Sabo said.

“We stole a battleship! Let's go!” Izou shouted to the others.

Sabo stood on the deck of the battleship, watching as the Whitebeard Pirates ran towards the battleship.

Ace and Luffy were behind, but they would make it. He was mindful of Akainu, who was right behind them but he would not have been able to stop them as long as they maintained their pace. Sabo was standing there ready to attack just in case something happened. The pirates started filling up outside of the battleship, he watched as Ace and Luffy were still a bit far, but they would make it. Everything was going fine, he was going to save Ace.

Just in case, because he felt like something bad was about to happen, Sabo decided to use his Observation Haki: Future sight, so as to see just a few seconds into the future to make sure that nothing would go wrong. He did not like using it because it took a lot out of him, but he was glad he did, because what he saw, was Ace stopping instead of running.

It made his blood run cold, and returning to the present, he jumped off the ship and started running towards Ace.

“So, as soon as you save Fire Fist Ace, the Whitebeard Pirates run away? What a bunch of cowards. Well you are subordinates of that man so I suppose it's fitting behaviour for people who follow a loser.” Akainu said from behind Ace and Luffy.

Just like he had seen with his future sight a few seconds ago, Ace stopped.

“Come on, don't stop Ace!” People were screaming.

 All Sabo could do was run, because a different image of the future, one not from his Observation Haki was dancing before him. A memory, from a different the moment in time. It was like he was watching from above, seeing a vision of himself, of Sabo reading the newspaper, an image of Ace, his entire back burnt, his body shown in the paper.

His dead body.

That face looking up at him, as the headline read: _Fire Fist Ace Dies_.

As suddenly as the vision disappeared, a choking feeling of pain, feeling like something was about to break inside of him the feeling like something was about to die inside him. He could see it, watching himself fall apart and he could feel it right now himself, that heart tugging pain emerging.

 

 _“Stop it! Stop it! There's no way I can ever feel that way again!”_ The voice in his head cried.

 

He wouldn't let Ace die, no matter what happened. He was definitely sure he knew him from the past somewhere. Somehow his future self had regained his memories and he must have known Ace from the past, that's why his death hurt so much.

Sabo had to run, he had to stop it, he had to stop him. He was still a bit far away but no one else was moving, as if watching the scene ahead of them transfixed.

“Take that back. Take that back right now!” Ace shouted angrily.

“Which part of it is a lie? Your real father Gold Roger stood in his way, he has never even sat in the seat of the King, so, Whitebeard is a loser. You bunch of thugs keep saying Pops, this, Pops, that...prancing about the seas pretending to be a family. He has been ruling this sea for over a decade and still isn't king. He was stabbed in the back by an idiotic son who got fooled by fancy words, and he's willing to die to save that fool. He lived an empty life.” Akainu goaded.

“Don't listen to him, Ace!” Izou cried.

“Stop it. Pops gave us a place to belong, what do you know about his greatness?” Ace shouted.

“People who don't live the right way, don't deserve to live. Pirates like you don't deserve a place to belong!” Akainu said. “Whitebeard will die a loser, a fitting end for a man who was the admiral for a bunch of garbage!”

“Whitebeard created this era. Don't you dare mock the man who saved my life. This era will be known by Whitebeard's  name.” Ace screamed.

A snowstorm of pleas ran all around him but Sabo was in his own world focused only one thing, just seeing Ace’s face, running as fast as his legs could carry him, running towards him. Luffy fell down on the ground on his knees, weak. Sabo was close.

“This is his era!” Ace's whole body burst into flames as fire erupted from his arm.

“The son of the Pirate King Gold Roger and the son of the Revolutionary, Dragon, I'm amazed to think that the two of you were brothers. Great sin runs in your blood. No matter who else escapes, I will never let you two brothers go!”

Ace launched his fist towards Akainu, but what happened next was that it was Ace who fell to the ground. Magma from Akainu burning his hand, knocking him down.

“Did you get cocky because you're a Logia too? You're just fire, but I am magma which consumes even fire itself!” Akainu said. “My power completely outclasses yours. Take a good look!”

Ace whimpered on the ground.

Sabo hesitated, was he targeting Ace or Luffy? Would he have to choose who to save? He had to make a different decision because Akainu wasn't looking at Ace anymore, but at his master's son who looked weak as if  he couldn't move anymore, watching a vivre card on the ground.

Ace and Sabo exhaled at the same time. Sabo deciding that since Ace wasn't in any immediate danger, he would go towards Luffy instead, yet still to be safe, Sabo tapped into his future sight once more, just a few more seconds and almost fell down at the image of Akainu's fist burning through Ace's body as Ace sacrificed himself for his brother.

_“I won't let it happen. Not again!”_

Opening his eyes, he saw Akainu's fist was raised to strike Luffy and Ace jumped in front of his brother, ready to take the hit, his back to Akainu.

But Sabo was way ahead of him, jumping right in front of the Admiral, his claws out. All Sabo could see was red, his aura was darkening more than he'd ever allowed it to, all the darkness inside of him, boiling over.

He grabbed the volcanic hot arm with his haki infused claws and squeezed it so hard, that he heard the sound of breaking bone even though the man was made of magma. With his foot, he kicked the stunned Admiral off his feet, knocking him a short distance away.

The people around him were shocked, but relieved. He was standing in front of Ace who had his back to him, Luffy who was sitting on the ground looking at the Admiral who had just fallen to the ground, clutching his broken arm.

 

“Don't you dare, touch either of them.” Sabo said, his voice quivering dangerously.

 

Akainu stood up. “I know you, you're Dragon's right hand man.”

“Sabo? What are you doing here?” Iva asked in surprise.  

Ace turned, hearing that name looking up at the person who just saved him and his younger brother and what he saw made his mind nearly burst with emotion.  The face was older, and there was a new scar on it, but it was a face he would recognise any day. That was the face of his dead brother.

“S-Sabo?” Ace's voice whispered behind Sabo, but he had no time to ponder the feeling in his heart at hearing his name in that voice.

Ace had just confirmed his suspicions in that moment, as expected he must have known him when they were children.

“Sabo?” Luffy's voice was weak, and he closed his eyes, fainting. Ace caught him.

Sabo's own voice was barely a whisper caught in his throat as well, as he looked down. 

“Sabo, are you real?” Ace asked.

 

That heart tugging feeling.

 

“Yes. Are you alright? I came to save you, Ace.” He whispered.

 “How fitting. I get to kill Gold Roger’s son, Dragon's son and Dragon's second in command. It is even more more than I could have asked for.” Akainu said, red hot magma leaking through his body.

Sabo braced himself, taking a fighting stance, his pipe in one hand. He wasn't so cocky as to believe that he could beat an Admiral by himself, but if the man wanted to fight, he sure as hell was going to give him the fight that he so desperately wanted.

“I won't let you kill my master's son and I travelled here from so far away, just to save Ace. I'm not letting you kill him either. I'm going to protect both of them with my life if needs be.” he declared.

"No, Sabo." Ace protested.

But there was no need, because in that moment, the ground shook and an angry roar came from the the king of the sea.

 

“HOW DARE YOU TRY TO KILL MY SON?!”

 

Whitebeard was angry, and so, apparently, was the earth.

 ***


	4. War Path

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "We were young and full of life and none of us prepared to die  
> And I'm not ashamed to say  
> The roar of guns and cannons almost made me cry..."
> 
> -ABBA (Fernando)

"Pops is mad! Let's get out of here!" Someone  shouted.

Whitebeard slammed Akainu to the ground with his powerful punch. The ground around Sabo and Ace shook.

Whitebeard hit Akainu with his fist using his devil fruit power and the Admiral fell down. He took out his bisento and charged towards him, but Akainu met him head on with a hellhound magma fist to the abdomen.

"Pops!" Ace shouted. But the old man was unperturbed as he landed another attack on the Admiral with fire from his own attack. Whitebeard then shook Marineford, sinking many marines, Akainu fell into the wall.

"Ace, take your brother and go! Jimbei, cover them!" Marco ordered, blue flames forming wings where his arms used to be.

"I'll stay here and help-" Sabo started, but Ace, flinging Luffy over his shoulder grabbed Sabo's arm with his free hand.

"Like hell I'll let you go after just meeting you again." The dark haired man pulled Sabo along so forcefully that he just let himself be dragged.“Even if this is a dream, there's no way I'm leaving without you.” 

They ran towards the ship, but were almost stabbed by a bunch of ice stakes that were thrown their way.

"If Fire Fist Ace doesn't die, it defeats the whole purpose of the war you know." Said a bored voice as the ice slinging admiral stopped in front of them.

Ace tossed Luffy to Jimbei. "Make sure he gets out of here." He instructed and the fishman obeyed.

Sabo and Ace stood in front of Admiral Aokiji and Sabo said, "He's a pretty strong opponent, you sure you don't wanna run?"

Ace turned to his brother, "You know me, I don't run."

Aokiji scratched his head as if wishing they would give themselves up and spare him the  _boredom_ of fighting them.

 Aokiji was suddenly froze the water, so the ship could not move. “There's no way I'm going to let you escape.”

Ace turned into flames and Sabo had his pipe out already, coated in haki as the two of them charged forward.

It was crazy the way that they fought against the Admiral. As if they done this a million times before, Sabo swung his haki infused pipe hitting Aokiji’s arm only to have the man hold the pipe, frozen in his hand. Ace, with his fire melted the arm that Aokiji was using to hold Sabo's pipe, and also managing to land a hit on his torso, granted, it did not seem to faze Aokiji that much, but it was a blow nonetheless.

 Sabo used his Dragon Claw to grab Aokiji’s  legs and kick them down from under him. It was crazy as he stood on Aokiji's left side and Ace the right, both of them attacking the Admiral relentlessly. Sabo felt as if they had done this a billion times before and it was as if he was watching himself do this as a small boy with Ace fighting alongside him.

For Ace, it was the same, this was how he and Sabo used to fight stronger opponents when they were younger. Attacking relentlessly from both sides not giving their enemy time to think. But this was a cunning enemy, the strongest they ever fought.

Sabo gave Ace a look as Aokiji froze the ground beneath them, almost making them slip and Ace could barely keep up with thawing everything that he was freezing while Sabo kept trying to hit the Admiral without actually touching him at the risk of being frozen.

Aokiji, clearly pissed about the random Haki attacks, turned into ice and shattered into pieces. The pieces started moving towards Sabo's direction. No doubt he wanted to surround him with ice particles and then encase him in ice. Ace quickly created a giant wall of fire around the Sabo and himself ensuring that Aokiji would not come in as he would melt.

“I have a plan, Ace. Follow my lead.” Sabo said running out of the shield. “You'll see the sign, so burn the shit out of him!”

Sabo turned his body around, he breathed in and then used full body Hardening Armament Haki because there was no other way he would be able to hold Aokiji to the ground. Sabo grabbed him from behind, pinning him to the ground.

Ace watched the scene unfolding ahead of him. Yes, this too was familiar, Sabo would often hold down the opponent and Ace would strike the final blow. Still, this was no time to be reminiscing, as he could see that Sabo's arms were starting to freeze, his legs too. Ace was sure that the cold would have killed Sabo by now if not for his armament.

Ace gathered up the biggest mountain sized flame he could create. “Flame Emperor!” He shouted launching it at the Admiral and diving into the flames pulling Sabo out of harm's way as the blow from the fire sent Aokiji across the plaza and over the wall.

“You sure took your time with the save, I thought I was gonna freeze to death!” Sabo gasped.

Both Ace and Sabo were sweating, tired as hell, but they both wore identical satisfied grins. They hadn't beaten the admiral, but they'd definitely put him out of commission for a while.

This feeling, Ace thought it wasn't real...that he for sure was dreaming and would wake up in that cold cell at Impel Down. Because Sabo was here, alive…

 

“Hey, I'm not dead, right?” Ace asked.

 

“What?” Sabo furrowed his brow.

 “I think I might have died and accidentally ended up in heaven instead of he'll like I expected...because you're here...with me...alive…” Ace blurted out.

Sabo stared at him, “I'm glad that your idea of heaven has me in it.” He said blushing slightly, they were in the middle of a war for shit's sake. He should get a grip.

“Let's keep going.”

The earth shook as Sabo and Ace finally reached Izou and the others, the two of them turned to see Whitebeard creating an earthquake that shattered the main building of Marineford.

"Even with half your face gone, you still have this much power?" Sengoku asked.

"I'm not done yet." Whitebeard panted.

"Pops!" Ace cried, starting to run back towards him.

"Do your weeping on the ship!" Haruta barked and Sabo tried to hold Ace back, but Whitebeard created another earthquake, this time splitting the ground in half, separating himself and the marines from his sons.

"Dammit! We're completely separated from Pops!" Ace said.

"Ace, let's hurry and get to the ship. Please." Sabo said, but Ace could not look away because he had just seen something terrible. 

Arriving and standing inside Marineford, on the execution platform like they owned the place, were the Blackbeard Pirates. 

"Those are criminals so heinous that their names have been wiped out from history." A marine said.

The marines started freaking out when they noticed the Level six criminals that Blackbeard had by his side. Names like, "Sanjuan Wolf, Avalo Pizzaro, Catarina Devon, Vasco Shot." were thrown around.

Ace could not care less about these people, his only concern was Teach, the bastard who betrayed Pops and the entire crew by killing Thatch... and who was the whole reason this war was even taking place.

"You!" Whitebeard said.

"Zehahaha!" Laughed Teach. "It's good to see you at death's door old man!"

"Teach!"

Sabo had to hold Ace down as Blackbeard laughed, talking to Segoku as he explained his goal in apprehending Ace. He resigned from the Seven Warlords.

"None of that matters! Teach!" Whitebeard said, sending a tremor blast towards the Blackbeard Pirates. He destroyed the platform they were standing on and they barely made it out.

Blackbeard got out of the pillar that had almost crushed him and made his way towards Whitebeard.

"You're not holding back. I guess that's to be expected." He said.

"You are no longer my son." Whitebeard said. "You broke the ironclad rule on my ship, and killed a comrade. So that my son Thatch may rest in peace, I shall kill this fool and take revenge."

"Pops!" Izou cried.

Marco attempted to fly over the breach, to reach Whitebeard. 

"Marco, stay out of this." He ordered. "Got it? Let's settle this Teach."

Ace could not do anything. He couldn't move because sabo was not letting up even an inch. It hurt Ace to see Pops like this, bleeding, very near the edge of his limit. This great man.

"Fine by me!"

"Pops, be careful. He has a very strange power!" Ace shouted.

Darkness engulfed Blackbeard, like it was all over him.

"Black Hole." He said. He turned the ground around him and Whitebeard black, like a swilling black tornado. "This is the power of the devil fruit I stole after killing Thatch. The greatest power! The Dark Dark Fruit. Have a test."

"You know Pops, Thatch is dead, soon you will be too. I used to admire and respect you, but you've gotten old. So old that you can't save a subordinate without giving up your life." He laughed. "I even let Ace live on Banaro Island, so by logic, he should follow someone able to protect him without dying in the process."

"That jerk!" Vista said angrily.

Ace gritted his teeth in frustration, tears clouding his eyes.

Whitebeard made to attack, "That's useless. All Devil Fruits are useless before me!" Blackbeard said. "Black Vortex!" He said creating a vortex that nullified Whitebeard's power.

"All Devil Fruit users are defenceless against me. You can't even cause earthq-" he was unable to finish that sentence because Whitebeard slashed his chest with his bisento.

Blackbeard fell to the ground screaming. 

"Overconfidence. Carelessness. Those are your greatest weaknesses." Whitebeard pinned him down and was about to create a tremor on his face when Blackbeard pleaded.

"Pops stop. I'm your son too, aren't I?" He said.

The earth shook, but when the dust cleared, Whitebeard was just standing over him, scaring him until he finally cried out; his voice cracking. "You monster! You should be dead."

The old man reached down to punch him again, but was shot by the sniper Van Augur. Twice. Three times.

"Pops!" Ace and Marco cried.

"Kill him, guys!" Blackbeard said.

Ace watched in horror as the man who had claimed him as his son, the person who had given him a home on the dangerous sea, was shot, stabbed repeatedly and still remained standing. He wanted to run to him, to give him his support in this battle that was being waged because he, Ace, had made a decision that had led to all this pain. He wanted to go there and save the man who saved him, to save the man that he respected more than anyone else in the world.

"POPS!" The Whitebeard Pirates cried.

"It isn't you." The old man said weakly. 

"What the... You're still alive?" Blackbeard exclaimed. 

"The man that Roger is waiting for, at the very least, Teach, is definitely not you." Whitebeard said..

"Just as many are carrying on Roger's will, there are some here... Ace will inherit my will. Even if you tried to extinguish Roger's bloodline, there is no way Ace's flame will ever burn out. It has been passed down through ancient times." He paused.

Ace was watching, listening and hanging on to every word in tears

"And one day, in the future, someone will come bearing the burden of the history for all those centuries and challenge the whole world to a fight." Whitebeard said. "Sengoku, you and the World Government all fear the coming war and the intense impact it will have worldwide. I don't really care myself, but once someone finds that great treasure, the whole world will be turned upside down. And someone will find it. That day will definitely come." He smiled.

And took a deep breath:

"THE ONE PIECE DOES EXIST!" Whitebeard's voice rang throughout the plaza and was followed by absolute stillness. 

Absolute silence.

"Zehahaha! What magnificent last words!"

Whitebeard stood still, covered in blood, swords going through his body, bullet wounds and knife wounds, even wounds from his own sons all over him. He stood, he did not fall. 

He stood still, bisento in hand. Unmoving. 

_"Come sail under my flag, and I shall call you my son."_

The words that led Ace down a path he would never have followed otherwise. Words from a man who could have killed him but chose yo welcome him instead. Someone who did not care about the demon's blood that ran through Ace's veins, but loved him like his own instead.

This great man who defeated people and nations.

The man who had shown him the wonders of the sea.

"P-pos..."

 

His father was dead.

 

"TEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAACH!" Ace screamed in anger, and now Sabo was holding on to him for dear life because if he gave even an inch, Ace was likely to break free and go after Blackbeard.

Blackbeard turned, hearing his name. He smiled, "Zehahaha! Ace! So, you survived huh? You're a tough one, I really want you on my crew now. I'll even make you vice captain! Zehahaha!" He seemed to enjoy the attention.

"You bastard! I'll kill you myself!" Ace screamed. 

"Before you refuse, there's something I want you to see. You and the rest of the world." Blackbeard said.

His crewmates placed a black curtain over Whitebeard and Bleackbeard.

"What the hell is he doing to Pops' body?" Vista asked.

After a little while, he removed the curtain.

Again he eveloped the ground in black stands. "This is my Dark Dark Fruit power."

"But this..." Blackbeard put his hands in the air, as if holding the air itself in order to shake the earth. Ace knew that pose. How many times had he seen Pops do it? Just what was this traitor trying to do, copy the technique fr-

The earth trembled as Blackbeard created an earthquake. 

But that power, that was..

That was...

"That's Pops' power!"

"Zehahaha! Did you see that, Ace?"

This was the final straw for Ace. Not only had this treacherous bastard killed Thatch, made way for this war, killed Pops...and now he had stolen his power? It was unbelievable and unforgivable. 

Ace was really going to kill him this time. Even if he died doing it, Ace was going to end this abomination. 

Sabo, in his shock at the two Devil Fruits must have loosened his haki on Ace because the next moment all he felt was intense heat and suddenly fire slipped through his fingers.

"Ace no!" He said reacting too late.

No, Ace was going straight into a dangerous situation driven by his emotions again. Was he trying to get himself killed? Was his death a set point in time that Sabo could not change?

There was suddenly a blue phoenix flying behind Ace, and raising it's blue wing, it struck him on the head. 

"Marco!" Jozu said. "Thank goodness. I thought a repeat of what happened earlier..."

Marco caught the now unconscious Ace as Akainu started running towards Luffy, who was less protected. He threw Ace over to Sabo.

"Get him out of here!" He shouted.

Sabo did not need telling twice. He caught Ace and put him over his shoulder. Sabo started running in the direction that Jimbei and Luffy were going. With Akainu who had manged to crawl out of the hole Whitebeard threw him into, on their heels. 

The fishman was running quickly towards the sea, where he would have an advantage. Unfortunately, the sea was frozen. Sabo was still far behind, so there was no way he could prevent what happened next.

Akainu punched a hole in Jimbei's back and the lava leaked through, and burned Luffy's unconscious chest.

Jimbei fell down, still holding Luffy through all the pain. An unfamiliar rage welled up inside of Sabo. It was strange, he had only met the boy today, but he felt strangely protective of him. He did not like seeing him hurt. Akainu had not noticed Sabo and Ace behind him yet, but Sabo could not care less about stealth when someone he cared about was in trouble. 

"I ALREADY WARNED YOU ONCE NOT TO HURT HIM!" Sabo shouted, turning the Admiral's attention to him.

That one second was enough for someone to shout, "Sables."

And a whirlwind of sand sent Luffy and Jimbei towards the sea shore where they were caught by a flying Buggy.

"I see you're still as reckless as ever, kid." Someone sneered arriving next to him.

"Crocodile!" Sabo was surprised that the former Warlord had saved Luffy. "Finally paying your debts to the Revolutionary Army by saving Dragon-san's son?"

"No...I just felt like it."

Sabo's Observation Haki alerted him to the presence of an oncoming ship.... A submarine?

Akainu turned to them. "I may have lost Dragon's son, but I'll still get Fire Fist along with two criminals."

"On my signal, sand blast us out of here, me towards Luffy." Sabo whispered.

"You think he'll let us?" Crocodile said through gritted teeth, crashing his cigar.

"You'll know my signal when you see it." Sabo whispered back.

"If you give me Fire Fist, I'll consider sending you to Impel Down instead of killing you." Akainu said coming closer, magma dripping down to the ground.

"I came from very far away just to save him. I'd be pretty stupid to give him to you." Sabo readies the hand that was hidden by Ace, holding his pipe in the other.

Akainu jumped and Sabo bent down, and, using his heavy hand, unleashed his Dragon Breath attack on the ground, destroying it. Akainu stumbled back, the wind from below pushing him back. Since Sabo was not looking when he did the attack, he would have fallen too, but Crocodile had been ready, and sand stormed them out of the way.

Sabo landed on the shore, and sure enough, a yellow submarine was in the water close by. Sabo was sure that Luffy was in there, so he jumped.

Sabo's jump landed him on the deck of the submarine, right in front of a pirate wearing a fur hat and a bear. His landing with such a force shook the ship slightly.

He looked around at the captain of the ship, who for some reason seemed familiar to him. Had he met him somewhere? Or did he just look like someone he knew?"

"Who are you?" Sabo asked.

An irritated frown appeared on the pirate's face.

"This is my ship! I should be asking _you_ who you are!" He said.

Sabo was not fazed. "But you are gonna answer me, right?"

The man's face seemed to resign to his fate, "Trafalgar Law, I'm a doctor. Now, who are you?"

"I'm Sabo. You can just think of me as Luffy and Ace's guardian." Sabo replied.

"Introductions are nice and all but can we please get inside? Come on Captain, before they start attacking us. Hurry, Hurry!" The bear said.

Before anything else could be said, Buggy ran up to the shore, "Catch!" He said throwing something. 

All three of them turned to see what it was. Buggy was throwing a straw hat.

The doctor caught the straw hat, Sabo followed him inside and the bear finally sealed the doors. Sabo felt the submarine starting to submerge and had to find something to hold on to to prevent himself- and Ace - from falling as it shook violently from an attack.

"Are you gonna carry him all day?" Trafalgar Law asked jerking his head at Ace.

"Of course not." Sabo was itching to be alone, his head felt like it was going to explode, and Ace was heavy. "Do you have an empty room that he can rest in?" Sabo asked.

Law snorted, "This is neither a hotel nor a hospital. I already have two critically ill patients in my surgery, just toss him in the infirmary."

Sabo frowned, "Can I really trust you to look after Luffy?" 

"The way I see it, you have no choice. Now are you going to interrogate me all day or shall I proceed with the operation?" Law asked.

"Very well. It's not like I could do anything about it anyway. We're underwater." He said carrying Ace towards said infirmary on the doctor's directions. He put him down gently on one of the beds.

He walked around the place, and found the bathroom pretty easily. Alone in the bathroom, Sabo finally let the tremors overcome him, giving in to the turmoil that was in his mind, a voice, time lost, a changed future. The mystery of the past he'd forgotten, and the future that he couldn't live with, the realm of possibilities filling somewhere, somehow all inside his already broken mind. Everything it was hiding from him, and the toll of the journey he had taken from the future all erupted into a sharp pain in his head that threatened to tear him apart. He gripped the pole so tightly that he left fingerprints on the metal.

Fighting to stay conscious, he could not afford to faint. Yet there was a small voice inside of him, asking if this internal turmoil that he suspected was a result of sending his consciousness back in time was going to stay with him forever until he could not process a single coherent thought.

And another, a thought somewhere that he was forgetting something important that he had to do, no that he was forgetting _someone_ very important, but he had no idea who.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I didn't sleep last night, coffee brain studying for my last exam. After I finished and got home, I completed this. Let's hope my caffeine-withdrawal-sleep-deprived-post-exam brain didn't make too many mistakes.
> 
> xxx


	5. Traveller

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very important stuff in here. It is a Lami chapter. Reunion for Sabo and Ace next chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I am the passenger  
> I stay under glass  
> I look through my window so bright  
> I see the stars come out tonight  
> I see the bright and hollow sky."
> 
> -Iggy Pop (The Passenger)

_Trafalgar D. Water_   _Lami first met Koware at a certain island in the Grand Line a year ago, but the events leading up to that started back when she was a child, still living in Flevance._

_It was hot inside the closet, Lami could feel the heat creeping up on her. She'd stayed inside since her brother told her to wait there but she couldn't wait anymore. The fire was closing in and she got out of the closet and walked through the house. She could barely walk with the disease ailing her._

_Choking through the smoke, she saw her father's body burning in the living room. She screamed and ran out._

_A part of her thought that maybe it would be best to sleep and die right there with her parents. She could not see Law, did he get burned too along with her parents? Otherwise, he would have come and got her out of the room. She was alone in the world. She trudged along from the house coughing from the smoke, barely able to breathe. She knew that she was going to die too, she could tell that her body was withering. If she couldn't die at home, at least she wanted to rush to the church so that she could pray for her family. She knew that the sisters would hold her hand while she died and she wouldn't be afraid anymore. She moved slowly, hiding from the people that were busy fighting, and killing each other. It was too much for her, she was crying as she finally arrived outside the church._

_It was empty, and she walked up towards the orchard where she sometimes helped the sisters to grow fruits. Suddenly, she heard a voice between the trees.  An old woman dressed as a nun was lying there. She had never seen her before._

_Well, at least she wouldn't die alone. Lami sat next to the old lady._

_"Lami." The woman opened her eyes and placed her hand on Lami's. "I failed."_

_"I don't understand, do you know me?" Lami said in a chocked breath._

_"It's me, Sister Margaret."_

_That was impossible, Sister Margaret was young and vibrant, but somehow, this old lady certainly looked like her._

_"Take this. It's for a cure for our disease. Take it to your father. I found it, the missing link to his formula. He can make a cure for everyone by adjusting it like this." Sister Margaret said writing something on the ground with a stick._

_"Father is dead." Lami said sadly. "Everyone is dying."_

_"Damn it. I had to go too far into the future this time... This was the furthermost time that I could return to. I tried to save everyone but I couldn't save anyone."_

_"I'll make it. I'll take the cure." Lami promised._

_"If I can save just one person, I'll be..." Lami watched as the woman took her last breath._

_The little girl survived the next week by hiding in the orchard. When the soldiers came searching for survivours, they only saw the church.  Lami sat there for what felt like days, hiding under the tree until finally, the noise disappeared. When she was hungry, she ate the fruits in the orchard until there was one left, a strange looking fruit with the swirls on it. She ate it too. She didn't care that it tasted disgusting._

_In the ashes of her dead city, Lami walked towards her father's lab. She didn't have Law's aptitude for medicine, but she had also spent a long time helping her father and Law with experiments on new medicines so that they would finish quickly and Law would play with her._

_The lab was thankfully still intact, so she found the notes on the cure for amber lead syndrome that her father was working on for her. It took a long time before she was able to make the correct formula that Sister Margaret had given to her. Between fainting in the middle of experiments, to collapsing from her poor breathing, she only managed to pull  through because she was the last living person from Flevance._

  
_She had to live. For all of them._

_And finally, she took the cure._

_It was not until later that Lami realise that she'd eaten a Devil Fruit, Sister Margaret's fruit._

_She discovered that she could run faster than most people, make other forms of transport faster too as long as she knew the destination, she could reach it quicker than most. S_   _he tried to go back but the furthest you could ever go was to just after she ate the fruit and by then it was too late. She had to leave all over again it took some time to before she realised the effects of her powers and how to use them properly._

_Around the world, they called it the tragedy of Flevance, they would never really know the truth of what happened there, she was not sure that she actually knew it. _It's not like knowing would change anything._ It was then that she decided that since she was the last living person of her country, she would have to live her life to the fullest. As a child she only loved going to festivals, seeing beautiful lights and capturing those moments. She liked looking at new things and new places, she loved going on a journey, it was exciting for her. Lami decided she was going to travel around the world and see the world through the rest of the people's eyes. She would live her life as best he could for the people that died in Flevance and her family._

_And so that was her life for many years, and when she was done with the North Blue, at fourteen, she crossed the Calm Belt easily with her travel powers, and travelled to the Grand Line. But in all the years, she decided to never get too close to anyone, with the fear of losing the people she loved again._

_When she was first introduced to her powers and she was experimenting with them and hadn't been careful about it, she sometimes worked as a fortune teller. She stopped when she realised the effects that the aging had on her body and how traveling through time hurt her mind. It was too late of course, she had already lost a lot of time, so she always looked older than she actually was._   _In spite of herself, she made some friends and when they discovered the truth about her powers, they always wanted her to send them somewhere or other. They always wanted to use her powers, so_   _being alone suited her fine._

 _As long as she was always traveling somewhere, as long as she was always running, she was as happy as she could be._   _She did not really have a purpose in her life she just lived for the journeys she took. After all, she had to she was the last one of her entire town, so that's how she walked through life._

_But all that changed one day, a year ago. In certain town on Matsuri Island, she met Koware._

_The island was full of tourists, people came here for all the showcases and dozens of feasts and festivals.  Rich people were everywhere, and nobles were attracted to one place in particular. It was a human auction house and Lami had learned to ignore the things that she couldn't control a long time ago. It was why she had sworn against sending people to the past or helping people in general._

_But on this particular day, someone freed all the slaves. The girl just freed all the people that were supposed to be sold as slaves and she got chased around by the navy._

_Lami was taking pictures of the natural forest when she saw her and hid behind a wall. As she watched, in the night, multiple Navy officers surrounded the girl, Koware._

_Lami had detached herself from the world, she didn't care anymore about people's troubles, no one had cared about her country's troubles after all. But there was something about this girl that seemed to strike her._

_The girl carried a sword and she fought with it, cutting down three people, five people as she fought against the Marines, taking most of them down. She was graceful in her movements and had pure white hair that danced in the moon when she moved._   _It looked like every attack aimed at her was either blocked or it seemed to affect the attacker instead. Was she reflecting the attacks? Was she a Devil Fruit eater? With every kick, it was like her opponents were being cut with a knife, even without her sword. With every slice of her sword that they couldn't block she was winning, smiling._   _Lami had never really been fascinated by another human being, but watching that girl in the moonlight moving slowly to spill the blood of the Marines, she felt compelled to take a picture._

_She took a picture of the girl as she flew in the air before descending down on her attackers until finally it was only the girl and the captain of the Marines left._

_"Who do you think you are, freeing the slaves that were supposed to be sold to the Celestial Dragons?" The captain asked._

_"People like you make me sick. I'm tearing down all of the auction houses that Doflamingo has all over the place. I figure if he's going to kill me anyway, might as well get my revenge before he catches me first." Koware said. "I cannot stand people in authority oppressing people as he does to the people in my country! I can't go back there but I can at least do this."_

_"Don't be so cocky girl!"_

_Lami watched from behind the wall as the girl and the marine fought, and for an instant, it seemed that the Marine captain was stronger than Koware, no matter how hard she kicked him he was able to block her._

_"I watched you fight against my men. You can reflect attacks as long as you see them before they hit. What if you can't see them?" The captain asked._

_"What do you-"_

_But the man moved so fast that Lami barely even saw the movement, one second he was talking and the next he was able to knock Koware's sword out of her hand, and pushed his sword into her chest._   _Lami had seen people die before, it was nothing. But this was the first time she'd felt like saving someone in a long time._

_She was about to move when something amazing happened. When the sword made contact with the Koware's skin, the girl cracked._

_"What the hell?" The Navy captain said, and pushed the sword even deeper inside but Koware continued cracking until she completely broke apart, like he was like he was stabbing a wine glass. She broke apart into tiny glass pieces and fell on the ground._

_She was definitely a Devil Fruit eater._

_Her opponent stared at the pieces of glass on the ground. "As long as she's dead I guess." He said, but then suddenly the glass pieces flew up and went right through him from the front and coming out at the back. The bloody glass shards reformed the girl behind the Marine who fell down with multiple cuts on his body._

_"Be careful with that sword, dumbass, I may be logia, but glass breaks easily." She shook her head, letting the bloodstained white hair back. "Oh, well. I guess normally glass doesn't reform itself, does it?"_   _Koware smiled at the dead marine on the ground. It was the most amazing thing that Lami had ever seen._

_"Did you enjoy the show?" Koware asked her eyes fixated on the wall behind which Lami hid. "You were you really gonna watch him kill me? I like that."_

_Lami was a little afraid, but the girl did not seem to want to hurt her. "You knew that I was there?" She asked._

_"Of course. I've been watching you for the past couple of days." The girl said, still smiling. "Did you take any pictures of me? You take pictures of things you find interesting, don't you?"_

_Just who was this girl, walking towards Lami like that, making her nervous?_

_"I-I-I..."_

_Koware placed a hand on her shoulder, and Lami's heart raced in response._

_"I was totally showing off for you." She whispered into her ear._

_That was it, Lami's tongue was tied._

_"You're cute." Koware laughed. "What's your name?"_

_"Lami."_

_"I'm Koware. Let's go to your hotel room, Lami. You must have some spare clothes. I'm covered in blood."_

_"O-okay."_

_This woman took her by storm, Lami usually chose her journeys, but it was like Koware was calling her along to carry her on the journey that was her._

_You avoided people all day today. You don't strike me as a person who likes to stay in one place for a long time." Koware said that night._

_"If I stay in one place for a long time that means getting to know people, getting close to them. I'd rather not lose anyone I care about." Lami said._

_"That's crazy! You can't just avoid getting close to people just because you are afraid of losing them."_

_"Well, when you've lost as much as I have, it becomes the only option to survival."_

_Koware smiled before falling asleep._   _"You really are an interesting girl. I wish I could accompany you on your next journey."_

_~_

_"Let me come with you!" Lami cried the next day when Koware was leaving._

_"I'm a criminal. You realise that, don't you?" She asked. "I can't exactly settle down."_

_"By tomorrow Diamante will probably figure out that I'm the one who killed those guys, he'll know where I am." She warned. "I'm living on borrowed time."_

_"I don't care." Lami said._

_"Okay, you can come with me, but you'll definitely regret this."_

_That's how it started, the girl who always kept to herself, was pulled by this fragile woman, who seemed to see through everyone just like glass she was. Koware did seem to understand her very well, fitting in nicely on her journeys as the weeks turned into months and Lami experienced the beauty of first love, of traveling with a companion._

_Unfortunately, death always seemed to come for Koware. Maybe it was because she was so easily broken but she always seemed to be in danger of dying, being chased all over by the Navy and by Doflamingo's larkies.  Lami didn't understand it at first, why she cared so much for this girl or why they always seem to be someone chasing her or why she kept saving the girl using her powers, even after she swore to herself that she didn't want her age any more than she already had._

_This girl was different, Lami kept saving her over and over again every time that she was captured or attacked...or died._

_Koware told her the reason, after Lami told her about Flevance and her family, that she was also from a dead city._

_"I was born in Dressrosa. Doflamingo took over the country many years ago. I feel like I've lost so many people but I just don't remember them. Isn't it sad?" She asked._

_"What do you mean?"_

_"On the surface, he's a good king and everyone loves him but apparently, my parents used to work for the former king, so I was imprisoned. Isn't it strange? I can never remember them, no matter how hard I try! As a prisoner, we were supposed to fight for our freedom in the Colosseum. It wasn't ideal, but I made many friends there, you know, fighting together." She paused. "Diamante and his subordinates were the best fighters there, they tortured us, especially the one named Mateo, a top officer if the Don Quixote family._   _Doflamingo didn't want people who couldn't provide entertainment, if you couldn't fight anymore, you were killed." She paused. "A few months ago, Mateo killed my friend because he got injured and I lost it. I was thin enough to slip through the prison bars, and I broke into the palace. I stole a Devil Fruit in there and used it to kill Mateo. Of course, killing a member of the family was basically signing my death sentence. I escaped from Dressrosa and have been running from Doflamingo and Diamante who both want my head. I '_   _m sorry that I'm taking you on this journey. But thanks to you, my last days have been amazing." Koware told her._

_Lami didn't tell her the truth that they'd already found her and killed her multiple times. But she couldn't hide it forever, because Koware knew how her powers worked and she could see it all the more that something was wrong with her mind, and she was aging too rapidly._

_Koware knew it because they went too long without being chased and then suddenly Lami would have a seizure or her mental state slowly falling apart and she would start screaming. Lami she couldn't control her powers very well anymore either. In just a few months, she aged three years and Koware knew that coming back the past from the future always did that to her._

_When Koware discovered the truth she was angry because she couldn't stand the thought of Lami doing this for her. Lami thought it was okay for them to die together, until something incredible happened._

_Lami was reading the newspaper one day and something caught her eye. She screamed!_

_"What happened?" Koware asked alarmed._

_"I found a wanted poster for this man; Trafalgar Law....Koware, this is my brother!" Lami said wide eyed._

_"I thought he was dead!" Koware gasped._

_"Me too. But he must have survived somehow. Koware...we have to find him!" She cried._

_It was the best day of her life, her brother who she had admired and looked up to, was alive. She would give anything to see him again._

_"Well, it looks like our journey finally as a destination." Koware smiled. "We'll find your brother and you can be reunited with him."_

_"I'm so excited, I can't wait to introduce him to you too. He must think I died too like I did. It's going to be so good to see him!" She gushed. "_ _Still, I can't believe Law became a pirate. I always thought he was going to be some famous doctor somewhere." She smiled._

_"They call him the Surgeon of Death. That must mean he has some medical skills." Koware pointed out._

_"You're right. I can't wait to hear all about his adventures and the things that he's done and I wonder how he escaped and how he's still alive!"_

_The two of them moved from Island to Island reading newspapers, following around on the adventures of the Heart Pirates. Every time there was an article on Law, both of them would read it and be happy. It became their hobby waiting for news about him as they went through festivals, and destroyed a few auction houses._

_As they followed him through his journey, they came to the same conclusion, if he was going to go to the new world he would need to go to Fishman Island through the Sabaody Archipelago._

_Of course, things weren't easy on them either. When Koware found out that her Lami was using her powers again to save her as the dangers escalated in Sabaody, she made a daring decision._

_"You lied about the number of times you did it, but the truth is this is taking a lot of toll on you." Koware said. "Need I remind you that you need to be whole when you meet your brother? What am I supposed to tell him if you lose your mind before you do it?"_

_"I'm not going to lose my mind!"_

_"You've been having hallucinations! You can't even use your powers properly anymore, you can't teleport without hurting yourself and it's all my fault. When we find your brother, I'm going to leave you with him. It's the best way to keep you safe."_

_"No, you can't do that. I want to see the world with you! To go to festivals, and then run around freeing slaves." She said. "I want to meet my brother, and show him that I'm alive, and show him the person I love. I want to go places, be in more festivals with both of you. You can't leave me."_

_"I don't want you risking your life or your sanity just because I got into trouble with the wrong people." Koware said "Please don't do this. At least p_ _romise me this, and I'll stay with you as long as my life allows it. Promise that next time, you'll let me die because that's my fate, because I should have died a long time ago."_

_"You can't expect me to-"_

_"That, or I leave."_

_Lami sighed, it was true that the hallucinations were bothering her, and she was struggling to sleep. It wasn't just two minds in her, she had gone back in time so many times that the voices in her head were almost unbearable. She wanted to be with Koware, but if she went completely crazy, that wouldn't happen._

_And she really wanted to see Law again, show him that she was okay, living fine and well despite the tragedy of her past. That would never happen if she lost her mind. He would just worry._

_"I promise." She said._

_In the next few weeks, something happened. Lami didn't tell her, but she'd let Koware die once, Diamante had killed her. Lami had even buried her and mourned for days. But in a moment of weakness, she sent herself back in time, and saved her girlfriend.  She broke the promise again but she wouldn't do it again._

_Doflamingo discovered that Lami was reason why Koware was able to evade them much better than usual. It was almost as if every time that they were close to capturing or killing her, she got saved. He concluded that the person who was helping her had to have seen it coming. A power like that would be even more useful to him than Viola. So, Doflamingo decided to remove her out of the equation first. So on the Sabaody Archipelago, they found her._

_Doflamingo's discovery was a variable that changed the future that Lami had seen so many times. Because the pursuers always came for Koware, Lami was cautious, always watching her. In every version of the future she'd been to, they always came for Koware and she either died or got captured. And Lami would go back to her past self, to prevent this from happening._ _But this time because they discovered her powers. It was just different a variable that hadn't happened before and Lami wasn't ready and they only captured her instead and took her to the auction house, to Doflamingo._

_They used a picture of her to send the message to Koware, saying they would let Lami go as soon as Koware turned herself in._

_That was how it happened the final time. They bound Lami in seastone chains so she couldn't use her powers. Koware was mad because Lami had been careless in trying to protect her and it had put her own life in danger, even though she'd made a promise not to save her again._

_But Doflamingo had not kept his word. He was not going to let Lami go with such a rare power that he could use. He wanted to kill Koware, but not her._

_So now both ladies were being kept in this hotel room, bound in seastone, waiting for Doflamingo to return from the war_.

***

Sabo knew he was asleep because it was the same dream, one boy was running ahead of Sabo and the other behind him, but as he tried to reach them, they disappeared. The darkness dissolved into a nightmare. Ace was dead, Sabo was crying, Luffy was letting out a blood-curdling scream.

Suddenly there was a woman there, looking down at him.

The face of the older woman looking at him, captured somewhere....and then that same face bloody all over, breathing heavily as she prepared to die.

_"Meissner Hotel, in the Sabaody Archipelago. That's where I will be."_

A voice, no doubt belonging to her, and then he was drowning, and suddenly could not swim.

_"I'm sending.....you back now, two years.... in time. I hope....you can save him... I hope you..... can save us."_

And then she was screaming for help begging him to help her.

_"Save him...save us..."_

_"Meissner Hotel...Sabaody..."_

The old woman's face suddenly transformed into Trafalgar Law. Strikingly similar.

"Hey, hey! Wake up!" A voice said and Sabo opened his eyes. The young doctor was looking at him in mild interest.

Sabo took in his surroundings. He was sitting down on the floor of the submarine next to the infirmary door, disoriented. "What the...? How did I get here?"

"I take it that this is your first time sleepwalking." Law said.

He was sleepwalking? His mental state must be worse than he thought. 

"No." He said standing up. "I used to sleepwalk all the time when I was a kid." Sabo looked at the man intensely. It was not just some weird dream thing, this person really did look like the woman from his dream. "This may sound strange, but, do you have an older sister perhaps?"

"Huh?" Law said. "No, I don't."

Not his sister then? "How about a female cousin that looks a lot like you?"

"What are you on about?" Law asked, clearly at a loss of words.

"What about your mother, where is she?"

His expression darkened. "Not that it is any of your business, but I have no family."

Sabo could tell that he was getting on the man's nerves. He decided to change the subject. He looked over at Ace, who was not moving on the bed. "How are Luffy, Jimbei and Ace doing?"

"Straw Hat and the fishman are still unconscious, but I've done the surgeries so their recovery is up to their own strength of will now." Law said.

"Gee, that's not vague at all." Sabo said in annoyance. "Wait, what about Ace? He's still not awake either, and his injuries weren't as bad as the other two."

"Oh, I treated his wounds and administered some pain medicine to him. He's just asleep." Law explained. "If anything, you should worry about yourself more. You were screaming and thrashing around in your sleep."

"Forget about me. What's ailing me can't be treated with medicine. Are we close to an island? I need you to drop me off somewhere." Sabo told him.

"I came to inform you that we are about to resurface." Law said.

"I see." Said Sabo. He took one look at Ace, sleeping peacefully in the infirmary and smiled unintentionally. 

Just who was this person who made him so happy, even amidst all the confusion in his mind, just by being alive?

He washed his face in the bathroom, then put on his hat. He could feel the submarine rising up. He didn't know who the woman in his dream was, but if he really had promised to save her, he had to at least try even with all this limited information from his unreliable mind.

As he made his way up the submarine when he heard a loud scream from the deck.

Damn it. Had the Navy followed them all the way here? He had no choice, he held on to his pipe and climbed out onto the deck. Sure enough, the White bear was looking alarmed, a giant snake looking at him, and a warship of the marines in front of the submarine. 

"Where is Luffy?" The woman on the warship asked.

Sabo gasped, he had seen pictures of her, but this was a truly beautiful woman, perhaps deserving of her title as the most beautiful woman on the seas. No, forget that. She was a Warlord, another World Government dog. He wouldn't let her touch Ace or Luffy.

"If you want him, you'll have to go through me, Pirate Empress." Sabo said.

"Oh? You're the guy who saved them." She said. She used her snake to land safely onto the submarine.  "I already turned the Navy soldiers on this warship into stone. I just want to know how Luffy is doing."

Huh? Was Luffy friends with this woman?

"How did you find us?" Sabo asked suspiciously. 

"I had Salome follow you underwater." She said gesturing to the snake. "Don't change the subject! Now, are you going to tell me what happened to him or not?"

"I've done everything I could. He accumulated an unbelievable amount of damage. The operation is currently keeping him alive." Trafalgar Law said arriving at the door.

"Hee haw! That's good news, isn't it, Sabo?" The voice belonging to Sabo's comrade said as Iva and his subordinates emerged from the Navy warship.

"Iva-san! I'm glad to see you made it out okay." Sabo said.

"Yeah, but Straw Hat boy was already withered to the point where he could no longer even stand in Impel Down. He really gave it his all, to rescue his brother Ace!" Iva said also climbing onto the deck.

The Newkamas cheered and agreed with him.

"Thank goodness you were there Sabo! If he'd lost the brother he tried so hard to save, his mental state would have crumbled! But with all this positive energy, he should recover quickly!" He said again.

"Yeah, you can do it, Straw Hat!" The Newkamas shouted. 

"Oh, poor Luffy! If only I had gotten hurt in his place." Boa Hancock said sadly.

"By the way, are you a friend of Straw Hat boy, candy?" Iva asked Law.

"Not really. I had no obligation to save him either. If it makes you uncomfortable, shall I make up a reason?" Law asked.

"No need. It could just be instinct after all." Iva mused.

A sound from behind startled Sabo as someone said, "Wait!"

Sabo turned, and there stood Jimbei, all bandaged up, barely able to stand.

"Trafalgar of the North Blue. I thank you for saving my life!" Jimbei said.

"Hey, you don't look like you should be up and about. Get some rest." Sabo said in concern.

"My heart was heavy with concern over Luffy-kun and Ace-san's condition. I could not stay asleep worrying about whether they made it out of that place alive." He mourned. "And how can I sleep comfortably with the loss I feel in my heart? I fear Ace-san too will be consumed by Old man Whitebeard's death."

Sabo looked down. He could not bring himself to worry about Ace's state of mind, not when his own was in jeopardy. Even now he was struggling with forming coherent thoughts.

"Staying on the sea like this is dangerous. The World Government will not stop until both Ace and Luffy are dead. Pursuers could be upon us any second. We need to keep them safe." Sabo said.

"You, beast. Do you have a transponder snail?" Boa Hancock demanded.

"Yes ma'am." Bepo said. "I'm sorry."

"If we call the Kuja fleet, this whole submarine will be able to get through the Calm Belt safely. We'll take them to Maiden Island. As long as I am a Warlord, they can be treated safely." Hancock said. 

This was a good idea and they all agreed to it. After the Kuja fleet arrived, Iva spoke up.

"My mission to protect Straw Hat boy ends here, Hee haw!"

"I'll go with Iva-san. There is something that I need to do at the Sabaody Archipelago." Sabo said. "But as soon as I'm done, I'll come to check on Ace and Luffy. For now, I'll leave everything to you Jimbei."

"Yes. I will ascertain Luffy-kun and Ace-san's recovery with my own eyes. I don't know if I'll be able to do anything though." Jimbei replied. 

"Take this." Boa Hancock gave him a baby transponder snail. "Call us when you return, and we shall help you cross the Calm Belt."

Sabo decided on looking in on both Luffy and Ace, before leaving.

Ace was looking peaceful as he slept, snoring loudly. Sabo smiled a little as he watched him sleep. He reached out to touch Ace's face and took a deep breath.

"I wish I could be here when you woke up, but I have a feeling that she needs me more." He explained. "But I promise I'll be back."

He did not even know why he felt the need to explain his absence, but he did it anyway. Sabo got on Iva's ship and left with them.

~

Just before they left, Sabo made a call to one of the agents of the Revolutionary Army in Sabaody. He had not contacted them beforehand when he had needed to get to Marineford because that had been an emergercy.

He instructed them to prepare a ship for him, nothing too noticeable, but strong enough to carry at least two people across the Grand Line. He also wanted information on the guestlist at Meissner Hotel.

"By the way, how come you escaped from Impel Down? I thought that you were gonna wait until we made a move, like just before the Reverie or something." Sabo asked along the way.

"We were," Inazuma answered. "But we couldn't let Straw Hat go by himself against the monsters in Impel Down."

"Yes, how could we let our comrade's son face such danger alone." Iva said. "Isn't that why you helped him too? Did Dragon send you?"

Sabo didn't really know how to explain things, so he decided on something simple. "Actually, I came on my own. I think I may have known Luffy and Ace as a child."

Iva's eyes widened in shock. "You got your memories back?"

He shook his head. "Just bits and pieces." He said. It wasn't a complete lie, he could still feel the images in his head, darkening still but too painful to reach. "You guys found me in the East Blue didn't you?"

"Yes. I suppose it is possible. But what a coincidence that you may have known Dragon's son growing up!" Inazuma exclaimed.

~

From where they were on the sea, Sabo could easily navigate the ship towards Sabaody.

Every time Sabo tried to sleep, images swirled in his head, distant voices all over his mind. A sharp headache gripped him and he resisted the urge to cry out. He could not sleep for the whole two days on the way to Sabaody. Of course, this just meant that he was more distracted than usual, unable to think clearly. Still, it was better than sleepwalking or screaming in his sleep and worrying his comrades. He drank a lot of coffee to stay awake as they closed in on their destination. 

"Thank you, Iva-san, and I'm sorry that you had to make a detour for me, I know that you must want to go back home." Sabo said.

"Don't worry so much. It isn't that far off course."

"I'll try to find a secure line, but if Dragon-san calls you, tell him I'm fine." He said to Iva.

"Very well, do be careful." Iva said before dropping him off at Grove 41 where the Revolutionary Army informant, Katsuo had said to meet him.

***

The area was filled with cracks in the ground when they docked. There weren't many people about in this area, it seemed like Blackbeard's earthquake had reached this place from Marineford. 

Katsuo, the informant for the Revolutionary Army was waiting for him at Grove 42 with the ship ready.

"Good afternoon, Sabo-san, I got the ship ready as you instructed." He said.

"Thank you, good work. Did you find anything suspicious about the hotel I told you about?" Sabo said.

"Not much really. Just a bunch of nobles living there, most of them moved to the furtherest hotels after the earthquake. Although, one of the Seven Warlords, Doflamingo has a room there..." Katsuo said.

"What?" Sabo asked. Doflamingo was someone that the Revolutionary Army had their eyes on, due to his connection to numerous slave trading organisations in the Grand Line. If a shady character like him was there, then Sabo was sure that there really was someone here that needed saving. "What details did you find out? Do you know the room number?"

"I thought it was strange, he rarely ever comes to Sabaody, and it seems like he brought three of his crew members with him." Katsuo explained handing him the details. "They are all staying there. A few days ago, on the day before the war, when Doflamingo was leaving for Mariejoa, they brought two women into his room, no one saw them coming out."

"Thank you." Sabo said adjusting his hat. “Go back to your post. I'll be leaving again in a couple of hours or so."

Katsuo accepted the order, and Sabo ran towards Grove 35, where Meissner Hotel was. He was able to enter the hotel lobby with other guests pretty easily. He was used to much larger scale infiltrations so this was easy for him even in this state of mind. 

He rode up the lift in silence, wishing he could silence his mind.

Finally, he found the room, with four people guarding it from outside. The guards outside Doflamingo's room tried to fight Sabo, but he easily defeated them. One of them was speaking on the transponder snail before Sabo reached him and whacked him with his pipe. He took the seastone keys hanging from his waist.

 ‘Keep It Together. Keep It Together. Keep it together.’ He said to himself as visions of dreams of people of images that he could make no sense of danced around his mind. He opened the door.

 There were two women inside the room.

 The girls sat there, bound in chains and Sabo looked at them. Both looked to be in their mid to late twenties. One was young woman with white hair, the other was a girl with dark brown hair, who resembled the old woman from his dream.

 “You're too young.” Sabo said.

 “Huh? Who are you, another one of Doflamingo's larkies? You can tell him to let Lami go, he's got me now, doesn't he?” The white-haired girl said.

 “Koware, forget it okay. You know how this goes, he's just gonna kill you!” Lami said with a frown.

 “I don't work for him.I already defeated the guards, but they called for backup. I'm not really in a good condition to fight today.” Sabo's body was heavy with fatigue, and his mind felt hazy too. “I'm here to rescue you. I've got the keys to your handcuffs.” He said moving towards Lami.

“Lami, who is this?” Koware asked.

“I don't know. This has never happened before.” Lami said as Sabo unlocked her handcuffs.

“Are you saying that he's a variable? Not from any of the 23 futures you came from?” She asked.

“Probably. How did you know where to find us?” Lami asked.

“You told me to come and save you. You sent me back from the future.” Sabo explained as he freed Koware as well.

Both women stared at him in shock. “That's crazy! I made a vow that I would never send anyone back in time again after I saw the horrible effects it had!” Lami exclaimed.

“Well, you sent me. And I'm surprised at how young you look, you-” 

“I can't believe that you did this again, Lami! Did you forget how many of the victims tried to kill you? It's unbelievably stupid! I bet you did this to save me again, didn't you?” Koware shouted.

“Let's talk about this later, he's not trying to kill us, he's saving us!” 

“For now! You know how this always ends. I can't believe that you would be this stupid!” The white-haired girl was clearly frustrated as she stood up. 

“I can't afford to get caught by the Navy, and there are people waiting for me. We have to go.” Sabo said.

“I can't.” Koware said. 

“What do you mean?” Lami said. 

“Doflamingo won't stop chasing us as long as you're with me! Do you understand? I brought this upon myself! Don't you want to be free to find your brother? How can I forgive myself if you lose your mind before that happens?” Koware asked. “Go with him. Find your brother.” 

“By brother, do you mean Trafalgar Law?” Sabo asked. 

“How did you know?” Lami asked.

“Because you look like him. Now let's go. I'll take you to him.” Sabo said. 

“You know where he is?” Koware asked. 

“Yes.”

"Well, go, Lami." 

“I can't just leave you!” Lami insisted.

 

“You made me a promise, Lami. Don't break it. You promised.” She said.

 

“Yeah, but you are not dead yet. I can still save you again...well, he can.” Lami gestured to Sabo.

“I get that you two have problems you need to sort out, but let's get out of here first.” Sabo suggested.

 

The two girls nodded and followed him out. He didn't want to risk using his Observation Haki right now, not when his mind was like this, so he was leading them out along the way that he came, blindly. As they reached the exit of the hotel:

 

“Where do you think you are going?” A voice said.

 “Crap. It's Diamante and Gladius.” Koware cursed.

 “Hey you, take Lami and go, if I stay here they won't go after you.” Koware instructed. 

“No, I'm not-” Lami started but stopped instantly. Sabo felt it too, a giant bomb was being sent Koware's way by the man in the hat.

 

Lami said something and suddenly Koware who had been way ahead of the other two was suddenly right next to Sabo. Lami collapsed on the ground. Bleeding.

 

“She teleported me out of the way. You idiot, just let me die already!!” Koware said slapping her.

 “Stop it.” Said Sabo looking at Lami who had a huge gash on her stomach and she was bleeding profusely from it. He took off his cravat and used it to stop the bleeding.

 

“I need you to go.” Koware said. “If she stays with me, she'll never be free.”

 

Sabo knew that he also needed to get to a place where he could dress the wound as soon as possible. He pushed Lami behind him, and ran from a strange looking waving sword from Diamante. The second time Diamante swung, Sabo only barely managed to block it with his pipe as Gladius also descended down on them, a bunch of explosions following them as they ran. Sabo had to block Diamante's attack with his pipe on one hand and use his left arm to block the explosion by putting it in his Armament Haki on it, but he got a little burnt. It was hard for him to fight both of them and protect two girls too.

 “Forget fighting! Just get her treated.” Koware said as she transformed into glass pieces and went towards Gladius, to engage him.

 Diamante chased them from behind, stopping every time to throw some shuriken looking weapons at Sabo. When Sabo tried kicking the man, Gladius sent a bomb his way. Both he and Koware who was fighting Gladius had to dodge and Sabo nearly dropped Lami on the ground.

 If it was simply close combat against Diamante, Sabo would have won, but with the flurry of wavy and hardened weapons of nearly everything that the man was sending him, it was proving exhausting to his fatigued body. He had to use Observation Haki to dodge them, which required a calm state of mind. He could feel the searing headache with every shuriken he managed to dodge or block from hitting both him and Lami. Another flurry of weapons rained down from the sky and Sabo  harderned hisbody with Armament Haki, shielding Lami from the blow.

A large glass barrier suddenly appeared in front of them as shards of glass darted towards Diamante, who to move out of the way of them, had to step further away from Sabo and Lami as Koware reflected his attack back to him. Koware then created glass pieces on the ground so that Gladius could not come any closer. Diamante on the other hand made them all wavy and was able to pass through them. Sabo punched down on the ground with his Dragon Claw attack, making the already unstable earth crumble and Diamante fell down.

 

“Blow that bitch up, Gladius!” He shouted. “How dare she thinks she can get away with killing a member of our family!”

The barrier may have been protecting them from Diamante’s attacks, but it would not withstand the explosion. Sabo decided to just break the glass and take Koware with them too.

 

“Don't break it please.” Koware said.

 

Koware had already gotten burned before, her arm was melting. A giant explosion came towards them and Sabo could feel the heat even through Koware's glass barrier.

 “They won't come any closer because of the explosion. This is your chance.” Koware said.

 “There is no way you could escape the explosion in there!” Sabo said.

 

“I know.” Said Koware looking at Lami through the glass. “This is it for me. You promised.”

 

Lami wasn't saying anything instead she just let her tears flow.

 It was true that as hurt as Koware was now, and also carrying Lami, Sabo would not be able to fight and protect both of them while managing to run back to the ship.

 

“Let's go.” Lami muttered.

 

Sabo stared at her. “Are you sure?”

 “I won't take away her choice this time.” Lami sobbed. She looked at Koware. “I love you.”

 “Please make sure that she meets her brother.” Koware said.

 “I promise.” Sabo said.

 

“I love you too, my little traveller.” Koware smiled at the brown-haired girl.

 

Lami buried her face in Sabo's chest, not wanting to witness her girlfriend dying again as Sabo sped away using Soru, towards Grove 42. Sabo didn't want to watch but he turned anyway. He saw the fire from the explosion finally reach Koware in the distance, and the girl that was made of glass melted along with the glass barrier that had been protecting them. He had to run at top speed even with his distressed mind and the girl he was carrying who was crying uncontrollably as he reached the ship.

 Sabo jumped into the ship and he put Lami down and raised the anchor. He dressed her wound as best as he could and amid the wounded girl's sobs, the ship begin to sail away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unedited chapter, sorry about that, I just wanted it out. Will edit later.


	6. Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Something's changing inside of me  
> I need to write down before I forget  
> You never told me, you're alone  
> Fury and anger breaks me down  
> I'm so stuck and I can't get out.."
> 
> \- Pay Money To My Pain (Bury)

_Ace was always alone. He felt isolated from the world and thrived in solitude. He did not need anyone, he was fine by himself, no demon needed the company of humans anyway. But this was before he met him. The boy who broke the wall that he had put between himself and the rest of the world. Ace was not interested in other people, but the more time he spent with Sabo, the more he wanted to know about him._

_"Say, Ace, do you have a dream?" Sabo asked a few weeks after they met, as he lay on the grass in the tree shade._

_"A dream? That's not gonna fill my stomach." He replied._

_Sabo laughed, but then turned serious again. "Well, I have one. The walls of the Goa Kingdom are too high, I want to go beyond this place. I want to explore new and interesting places, to be free of this garbage dump that I call home now. Watch me, Ace, I will go to see the world and be free on the sea."_

_"The sea, huh?" Ace muttered. That was the place where his father had built his kingdom, on the wide, unflinching ocean. What was it like there that he had given so much of his life to pursue it? What could he have been searching for that he was willing to let his reputation get tarnished, to allow himself to be so hated and feared by the world?_

_Ace wanted to know if the answer to his very existence lay somewhere in that sea. What kind of a father left that kind of a legacy for his son? How had the bastard expected him to live in this world that cursed him and called him the son of a demon? He was tired of living under his father's shadow. Even though the man was dead, would he continue to follow ace wherever he went his entire life?_

_"You live here, at Gray Terminal, right Sabo? What about your parents?" Ace asked._

_Next to him, he felt Sabo tense up for a second. "Parents? I don't have those." He said._

_So, Sabo was an orphan too like him, if it was the two of them together, then Ace was not afraid of Roger's shadow behind him because the light that was Sabo would be running alongside him. This entire journey, he would venture on it as long as Sabo was there._

_"Let's do it then! Let us get a big ship and sail across the sea!" Ace said standing up. "We'll go places, fight strong opponents and defeat them. The whole world will know my name. I don't care if they love me or hate me, but I will not be defeated by anyone!"_

_"Yes!" Sabo grinned toothlessly. Then he faltered. "But Ace, ships cost money...we don't have any. Also I doubt we will be able to survive by ourselves right now!"_

_He had not thought of this. "Then we just need to save our money." Ace said. "Instead of spending everything that we find, let's save some of it to buy our own ship one day. Then we'll be real pirates."_

_"Our own ship. That sounds good." Sabo smiled._

_Of course the two of them never got to use that money, and Sabo died, leaving Ace behind. Or at least, that was what Ace had thought_.

 

***

  
Ace sat on the edge of the forest watching the sea for any oncoming ships.

  
It had been scary, but he was alone when he woke up. The only thing that made it better was that he remembered a voice somewhere in a lost dream, telling him that he would be back. Sabo. Sabo saved him, and even with everything that he had lost, Ace wanted more than anything for Sabo to have been real. Luffy was still unconscious, but Jimbei had assured Ace that Sabo had watched over him all the time that he was here. Even when leaving, he had entrusted both his and Luffy's care to Jimbei and Law.

So now Ace sat on the sea shore, waiting for Sabo to return.

He watched the waves moving freely. This time, he didn't have the strength to cry anymore from losing his father. All the time he had been alone waiting for Sabo to return had been spent in regret and crying and wondering if he was worth all that blood that was shed just for him. It made Ace really sad, so he would rather sit there by the seashore trying to keep his mind blank. He really hated being alone now wishing that, as usual, he would just fall down there and sleep forgetting everything that he regretted. Everything that he lost in the war was seemingly impossible to forget.

How many people are going to be in trouble now because Pops wasn't there to protect them? What about the family from the Whitebeard Pirates that he had made? He wondered if they all got out safely. What about Pops' body? According to what Jimbei had said, Shanks had been the one to take the body, so at least the Marines weren't going to be displaying his father's head disgracefully. He was very grateful for that.

He had to think about something else besides that bastard Teach. S

He wanted to think about something good, comforting, in his heart, he thought of Sabo. Sabo jumping in between him and certain death, taking Ace's life into his hands, saving him. Sabo was the only person that he'd ever loved. In all these years that he'd been alone, thinking that he was dead, he had not been able to fall in love with anyone else.

All the time that he had been presumed dead, why had Sabo not come to find him? Even if he had wanted to escape from his parents, how could he think of leaving Ace behind? Ace had a lot of questions. In fact, the more he thought about Sabo's whereabouts, the more pissed off he got. He disappeared for years only to reappear and leave all of a sudden. If he was real, then Ace would have to give him a piece of his mind.

Suddenly, there was an unnatural wind in the air, and Ace looked over at the ocean and saw to his surprise, a ship sailing through the Calm Belt at an unnaturally high speed, coming towards him. The sea kings could not even touch it because it was too fast. Then it slowed down, just as suddenly as it appeared. The ship anchored next to where the Polar Tang was.

Ace ran up to the ship, and watched as someone frantically came out of the ship, stopping when he saw Ace standing there, watching him.

It really was him. It was Sabo.

He came back like he promised. Ace could hardly believe it, even as he looked at him. Sabo came down from the ship and stood in front of him.

Ace walked right up to him too and looked at him. He was real, he was here. Somehow it still felt unbelievable. Therefore, both out of his anger at being made to wait for so long and from a need to confirm this existence, Ace raised his fist.

 

It was not the first time that Sabo got punched in the face.

 

Even though he had just been hit, Sabo felt himself getting washed over with relief and joy at seeing Ace. His heart heaved happily and he felt his mind lighten up as if a heavy load had been lifted off his shoulders at this sight.

Ace alive, moving and walking.

It hurt, but he knew that the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates could hit a lot harder. He supposed He was mad because he had to wait so long before seeing him again. He knew that Ace had just been through the worst week of his life, and needed to see a comforting face when he woke up. Instead, he had left him by himself in the bare, cold infirmary. "I expected a more powerful punch from someone as strong as you." He said.

He took a deep breath. "Where the hell have you been, at a time like this?" Ace shouted.

"I hear you, I do. I'll be with you now, I promise. But there's someone in that ship who needs medical attention. Where is Law?" Sabo asked. He needed to examine Lami as soon as possible.

Ace frowned, was this person the reason why he had left him alone in this place that he didn't know? "He is over there." He said crossing his arms and jerking his head towards Law's submarine.

"Thanks." Sabo said running to the submarine. He found him in the middle of his breakfast, but immediately began pestering him without caring. After all, Lami was important to both of them. He had spoken to her on the ship, when she was sociable, which was only when the girl ceased crying for a time to talk.

"Hey, I have a wounded woman in that ship. She requires medical attention. I dressed her wound to the best of my knowledge, but she needs a doctor."

"What am I, your family doctor?" Law snapped.

"Trust me, this person would really like to meet you." Sabo told him. "Come on, she is right through there. You should bring some medical supplies for treating her wounds. I think she needs stitches, but I wouldn't know. I don't want to move her, because she got us through part of the Calm Belt quickly, but she overexerted herself and fainted. The journey might have been too hard on her."

He did not even give Law a chance to protest as he hurriedly ushered him towards the ship as soon as the bag was ready.

~

Grumbling and irritated as well as regretting ever offering to treat Straw Hat, Law took his medical bag and followed Sabo into the ship. It wasn't like he had anything better to do right now, but that was well beyond the point.

"I'll give you two some privacy." Sabo said turning away as Law opened the door. Wondering what that was about, Law turned to look at the patient lying on the bed. As far as he could see, her stomach was bandaged, clearly by an amateur, but it was not a bad job.

Hearing someone inside the room, Lami tried to sit up. "Sabo? Are we there yet?" She asked. But it was not Sabo that she saw when she opened her eyes, but it was the person that she had searched for for so long. The one she had longed to meet someday, the only family she had left.

"...Law..." She said.

Law was startled by the sound of the woman's voice, it was a familiar sound. That of a child calling him out to play with her while he was busy studying. Now that he looked at her face, it was not far from the dreams he had of how his sister would have looked had she been allowed to grow up.

"Who are you?" He asked sharply.

Lami could not help but smile because she had been looking forward to this moment, to seeing her brother again for so long. "Come on." She said. "I know I look older than I should be, but don't tell me you've forgotten your little sister's face?"

The doctor's bag fell to the floor in shock. "You...don't you try to deceive me, my sister is-"

"You better not say I'm dead when I'm right here, Big Brother, besides, you could always tell if I was lying." She said sitting up too fast and flinching from pain.

"Lami!" Her brother said moving to quickly assess her wound.

"I see one thing hasn't changed about you." She said watching as he looked at the injury and started to clean it.

This was too much for Law to take in. Never in his life would he have thought that a member of his family was still alive. This was not at all how this day was supposed to go at all. He could barely believe it at all. And yet his hands trembled as he attempted to suture the wound. There was so much he wanted to ask her, a lot he needed to talk to her about, after confirming clearly that she really was Lami. Anyway, to process everything would take him time, right now, he would process what he could control...treating her injury. Everything else would come after that. Yes, he would talk to this woman, his sister and then go on from there.

***

Ace paced around on the sand. Who was the woman that Sabo had gone to save? What was she to him? Before all that, why had Sabo only shown himself now when Ace was in danger? He was sure that Akainu had called him Dragon's right hand man. So, of all people that Sabo could have gotten involved with, it was Luffy's father. How did he get involved with the Revolutionary Army? Was he seeing someone? Why had he avoided contacting him all this time? Damn, Ace really hated waiting.

"Ace?" That was Sabo's voice and Ace immediately turned to him. He would ask questions later, right now, he was glad to have Sabo here, right next to him. Ace threw his arms over him in an embrace that surprised Sabo but he greatly appreciated and liked it. He leaned his body against Ace's. This too felt great, like this was something that he had missed for years, a part of him that he had been unable to find before.

Breaking his hold on him, Ace stepped back.

"I'm sorry I left before you woke up. I really wanted to stay with you, but there was an emergency." Sabo said. "How are you feeling? How is Luffy doing? Is he up yet?"

Ace said nothing but just continued looking at him.

"Ah." Sabo said, mentally hitting himself. "Of course you are not okay, that was insensitive of me to-"

"Where have you been?" Ace asked quietly.

"Like I said, someone needed my help urgently, it was out of my control."

"That was not my question and you know it. I meant for the past ten years. You had an accident, your boat was attacked and we thought you died." Ace said trying to meet his eyes, but Sabo looked away.

"Have all your wounds healed? Is Luffy still unconscious?" Sabo tried to avoid answering the question.

"He is still out of it, but Law said that he should be up in the next day or two. I'm not in any pain." Ace answered and bowed his head slightly. "Thank you for saving me and Luffy. I'm really grateful."

He was being polite, and Sabo knew that he had to tell this man the truth.

"I've answered your questions. Now answer mine."

"Very well. Like you said, my boat was shot down, but I got saved by Dragon-san. I have been living and working with the Revolutionary Army since then." It was the truth, a simplified, incomplete version of it, but the truth nonetheless.

"So that's how you met him." Ace said quietly. "Look, I can understand you not wanting to return to your parents, and maybe the life we lived in Gray Terminal was unfulfilling for you, but what about Luffy? Huh? What about me, us, why did you not even write to me to tell me you were alive at least? The last letter I ever received from you was the one I thought that you wrote the day before you died, I mourned you for years! I would say that I meant nothing to you, but you were clearly willing to drop everything to come and save me when I was about to die. So, why did you let me think that you were dead?"

Ace seemed angry. Perhaps the Sabo he knew would be able to answer all his questions, but to this Sabo, all this did was make him sad. So, he really had an actual life before the accident, people who cared about him and mourned him. He had parents too? He could feel it coming again, the haziness in his mind, a new voice in there trying to break out as he processed this information.

_"Where am I? Why is it so dark in here? It is so cramped, I can't break free. Who are you...?"_

No. He shut his eyes. He had to block it out. He shut his eyes for a moment before opening them to look back at Ace. "You and I knew each other when we were children?" He asked.

"What?" This was not the response that Ace had been expecting at all. Even though the man in front of him was looking at him, his eyes seemed so far away.

"If you knew me so well, I guess that I can't pretend anymore. In the accident, I lost my memories. All of them. I don't remember anything from twelve, no ten, years ago. I'm sorry, but I don't remember our time together, so that is why I never contacted you." Sabo said. 

"Amnesia?" To say Ace was shocked would be an understatement.

"Yes. All I had was my name which was written on my clothes. In my head, I knew that I did not want to return to the Goa Kingdom. It was something that I wanted desperately, so I did not think that I left anyone I cared about behind. I never knew that someone cried for me thinking that I was dead."

Sabo had forgotten everything? Forgotten him? It was strange but it made sense. But then, if Sabo did not remember him, how come he had come to Marineford? How had he known to save him? Oh no, Ace had been naive after all, Sabo had arrived late to the battlefield. Maybe he did not come for Ace at all, but for Luffy. It made sense that Dragon would send in his right hand man to save his son. So, Ace was nothing at all to Sabo then?

"Then, how come you came to save me? Or, did your boss send you to save Luffy?"

"No, I came for you. But of course when I knew that Luffy was there as well, I could not leave him behind. I took a long journey just to save you, Ace." Sabo scratched his head.

Those words, even though he did not fully understand the meaning behind them, somehow made Ace's heartbeat quicken again. How was it, that his immovable heart for ten years suddenly responded forcefully to someone who did not even know him, not really? How was it that even now, Sabo was able to elicit such strong emotions from Ace?

"What kind of journey?" He asked to steel his heart, but was not prepared for the answer he received.

"I'm not from here...not from this timeline. That girl I went to save earlier, she made it possible for us to meet again. I travelled through time from the future to save you. The future where I am from, we never met. You died before I remembered you." Sabo explained.

"The future? I died?" Ace staggered. The Grand Line was full of surprises, so it was rare for him to receive to shocking pieces of news in one day. 

Sabo nodded. "Yes, but I don't really remember that future either. All I know is that I got my memories back in that time, and I could not live my life well enough without you, so I decided to travel back two years so that I could save you."

Ace gulped. "Two years."

"I'm sorry." Sabo said looking down.

"Sorry for what?"

"It seems like we were really close, but I have no memory of it. So, I'm sorry that I forgot about you." He said.

Ace frowned, "Don't apologise for something that was out of your control..."

Suddenly, Sabo's head felt heavy, and he could see his vision starting to blur. He felt light headed as an intense headache hit him. He fell down, clutching his head and knelt on the ground in pain. He could not hold it in this time. 

_"Leave. You don't belong here."_

_"I'm going insane."_

_"I saved him. that is all that matters now."_

He tried to hold on to something for support, and could hear another voice from outside saying his name.

"-bo...hey, are you okay? What's wrong?" Ace was saying. "I'll get the doctor, okay...just.."

But Sabo held on to him for support, shut his eyes again, and regained his balance. The wave was gone for now.

"I'm fine. Nothing to worry about," He said standing up.

Ace checked him, looking him over. "What the hell is that? You were clearly in pain. Are you hurt somewhere? I really should go call Law or one of his crew to look at you."

"No. Don't disturb him and Lami." Sabo said wearily. "There is nothing he can do anyway. It is my mind that is all messed up. I'm sure it is a side effect of the time travel."

"You..knew that it would mess up your mind and you still did it anyway? How dumb is that? If you had your memories back, in the future, it was not me who needed you but Luffy! You should have kept yourself whole and stayed to look after him!" Ace shouted. " To him, you died and so did I!"

"No, Ace, the only one who died was you. Don't worry, okay, that timeline does not exist anymore! So, I'm fine. If I did this, I must have thought that it was worth sacrificing my sanity to save you." Sabo told him.

"Why would you do that to yourself?" Ace shouts. "How could you be willing to sacrifice your own mind just for a possibility of saving me? How could you do something that reckless?!"

"Like you wouldn't do the same thing! You jumped in front of Luffy to take the hit for him! Are you saying that you wouldn't do what I did if it meant saving him?" Sabo fired back.

"Of course I would. I'd do it for you too, but that's not the point! Someone like me doesn't deserve-"

"Shut up! Why must you disregard your own life? Even if I don't remember it, my heart tells me that I came because your life was worth saving! It meant that much to me, so why must you make my heart ache by condemning yourself?" Sabo shouts back.

"Sabo..."

"No, it's driving me insane! Before, just hearing your name hurt a lot, Ace. More than I've ever been hurt by anything or anyone in my life. But now, why is it that I react in such a foreign way to someone who is a stranger to the current me? Why am I so happy that you are alive? My heart rejoices even as I feel like I'm losing my mind! Why?" Sabo asked. "Tell me, Ace, what kind of relationship did we have?"

"That's kind of...well..." Ace froze.

How was he supposed to explain it? It was a long time ago, after all. Neither of them was the same anymore. But even after all these years, after all the places he had been to, and the people he had met, Ace had only ever kept one person in his heart. A dead person in his mind. And yet, here stood the ghost of that boy, searching for an answer to questions he wasn't prepared to answer. He was alive after all, both of them survived by nothing more than a single thread. This was a moment to be seized.

Ace laughed at himself. Sabo did not even remember him, how could he even think about rekindling a childhood relationship with someone to whom he was nothing more than a stranger? He should leave the past buried behind him. Ace did not have the luxury of being selfish right now, not after the recent events. Not after all the friends he lost and all the people who died because of him. He had no right to be happy. He should not allow his heart to beat faster just because Sabo, even in amnesia seemed to hold him as precious in his heart. He should not hope that even in his memory loss, Sabo's heart still remembered him. No, he chastised himself, the simplest answer would be the best. It would not do to confuse Sabo while his mind was still all over the place.

"We were... we are...brothers." He said finally.

"Brothers?" Sabo asked in surprise.

"Yeah, there was this old hag who took care of us, her name was Daddan. Luffy, you and I stole a bottle of sake from her and we made an oath, and became sworn brothers on that day." He smiled. That was a day that he treasured above many others.

Sabo smiled too. "I see. It sounds like we were quite a handful, I know I was hard to handle on my own when I was younger." Then he frowned, and put his hand over his heart. "But why is it different? I can feel it here, that both of you are very important to me, but I can't help feel like it is in different ways."

What to do? Ace wondered. If he could separate the feelings, did that mean that he too, even after all this time, still loved him? No. If Sabo had any feelings for him, it was best to let him discover them himself.

"Maybe since I'm older, you have a lot more respect for me?"

"Somehow I doubt that." Sabo snorted.

"Ace-san, Sabo-san!" Called Jimbei's voice from a little way behind the two of them. "Luffy-kun's woken up!"

Both of them turned immediately towards the Polar Tang. The people who were supposed to be taking care of Luffy were all sprawled on the ground and a few trees were knocked down in the direction that Luffy had gone. They did not have to search too far to find him though. His voice rang out.

 

"AAAAAACE! WHERE IS ACE?!" They heard Luffy crying out.

 

The two of them found him calling out in a loud voice, he was all bandaged up and banging his head on a tree.

"Luffy!" Ace called running up to him alarmed. Sabo ran a little ways behind him as Luffy continued screaming. Ace reached him and stopped him from hurting himself, picking him up by his arm. "Luffy, I'm here okay?" He said.

Luffy looked at his brother and hugged him intensely while crying as he said through the tears, "You're alive! I thought...I thought..."

"I'm fine, now stop crying, alright?" But the boy wouldn't stop crying and instead held on to his brother for dear life. "Really now." Ace sighed.  He was happy that Luffy was awake after all. While he didn't like the fact that Luffy had put himself in harm's way to save him, he was glad that the boy seemed better now.

After a while, Luffy's cries finally started to subside and he was sobbing only. "I had a dream and in the dream, I couldn't save you."

"Well, you did save me. You did something reckless that you should never do again, but you saved me." Ace said with a smile. "And honestly, if you cry that much for me that you dreamed was dead, how much more for him?" He said shifting slightly so that Luffy could see Sabo who was standing behind Ace.

Luffy looked up, and Sabo suddenly didn't know what to say or do and just raised his hand and said, "Hi, I see you are feeling better."

Luffy's eyes widened, his mouth agape. It was as though his eyes would pop out. "You...you...Sabo?" He fell back in shock. "No way!"

"It's me, Luffy." Sabo said.

"SABO!" He said and stretched out his arms putting them around Sabo's neck so that he catapulted towards him and almost knocked him over as he hugged him too.

Sabo was barely able to free his face from Luffy's hold and looked up at the boy as tears rained down on him from Luffy's face above him.

As Luffy's tears rained down on him, he couldn't help but smile and a sudden feeling like deja vu came to him, as if this had already happened before. Was it a memory? He wondered.

"Alright, alright you're gonna suffocate him." Ace shook his head.

"It's okay. I was worried about him." Sabo said. "I'm glad you made it out alive, Luffy."

Luffy sniffed. "But...because of me, Ace almost died."

"I know. That day, if I wasn't there something even more terrible could have happened. I could have been unable to save either of you. So, I'm really glad to see that you are okay."

Luffy would not stop crying, it was both sad and beautiful. Sabo looked at the little boy beside him and suddenly felt sad that he'd forgotten this person too. How could he bear to tell this boy who was so glad to see him alive that he did not actually know him?

"By the way, Sabo, where have you-"

"Now, don't pester him Luffy. You just woke up after days of being unconscious. Aren't you hungry?" Ace cut in, sparing him the burden of having to explain his situation. While Sabo was grateful for it, he felt like he still needed to tell Luffy the truth.

The moment food was mentioned, Luffy's stomach started growling loudly, "I'm so hungry." He said.

 ~

Sabo noticed that Law and Lami did not come out for lunch with the others. He supposed that they were too busy catching up to associate with anyone right now. As usual, the ladies of Amazon Lily brought the men food to eat at the edge of the island. However, this time, the Snake Princess herself was with them and she was there leading a giant tray with huge chunks of meat which she presented to Luffy herself.

Ace and Sabo watched in astonishment as Boa Hancock needlessly fawned over Luffy and made sure he ate a lot. The boy, of course, was quite oblivious her affections as he continued to stuff his face while talking to his two brothers neither of which could understand what he was saying between mouthfuls of food.

Hancock also brought plates of food to them saying, "Please eat your fill brothers-in-law." she said with a blush.

"Brothers-in-law? When did they get married?" Sabo asked after she left.

Ace snorted. "That idiot probably doesn't even know that she is in love with him."

"Still, Luffy is an amazing guy isn't he? It is really impressive that he was able to get a strong and beautiful woman like the Pirate Empress to fall for him. So many men would kill to be in his place." Sabo smiled.

"Oh, is that how you see her? Are you one of those many?" Ace snapped irritably.

"Hmm, why do you not like her or something?" Sabo asked curious at Ace's reaction.

"Forget it. It's nothing." Ace cursed. Why was he getting annoyed now? It was not like Sabo had forgotten him on purpose, and it's not like they were actually dating or anything around the time that Sabo disappeared. For all he knew, Sabo could have someone that he loved right now, someone who he really cared about. He didn't know anything, so why was he getting mad just because he said that a woman was beautiful?

  
"I'm gonna go take a walk." Ace mumbled after finishing his food.

While alone with his thoughts, Ace walked through the forest, trying to calm himself down. A lot had happened in the past week, so why was his mind occupied with just Sabo?

Ace felt a need to leave a mark of himself in Sabo's mind again, but there was nothing he could do to replace all those beautiful memories were lost in his mind.

  
"There you are." Sabo said arriving behind him. "Are you okay?"

No, he was being stupid, so definitely not. "Sabo, I know that this may be hard for you, but have you remembered anything at all the past ten years?"

Sabo looked at him and shrugged. "I usually had dreams of running in the woods with two boys, and now I know that was you and Luffy but the memories were never distinct, never clear." He told him. "But during the war, maybe it was because of the rush of intense emotion, but when I saw you about to jump in front of Akainu's burning fist, about to die I triggered the memory of myself in the future, technically my past, finding out that you died. I think that was how I got my memories back."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, it was awful honestly. I saw you on the newspaper and the memories came flooding back to me. When I had the vision, I couldn't see what that me was seeing, but I could see him and he was in a lot of pain." Sabo could feel another brain splitting headache coming up. "So yeah, I'm really glad that you're alive."

Ace stood up to face him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about what you went through." He had been only thinking of himself, trying to trigger Sabo's memories of him. He did not think about the pain it would cause him.

"It's okay, they aren't all bad. I did have a bit of deja vu when I saw Luffy. I think that I may have seen him in the future too. I may have gone to see him." He smiled. "And also, when we were fighting against Admiral Aokiji, I feel like I had a flashback of when we were children fighting against someone but I'm not sure. That was not bad at all."

"Fighting, and intense emotion, huh? If you like," Ace hesitated. "I can help you by doing things we used to do together when we were children."

This made Sabo to beam widely. "You mean it? I do really seem to enjoy being with you." He said. "I think that maybe being with you, fighting alongside you or something similar might trigger it."

"Alright." Ace said and broke two small branches from a nearby tree. He tossed one of them to Sabo. "I'll help you. We used to spar a lot when we were younger."

"Really? We did?"

"Yeah, we had to learn to be strong to survive in the Gray Terminal. So, we would spar with each other in training with Luffy, but he always lost to us."

"Who was stronger, between you and I?" Sabo asked examining the stick handed to him.

Ace shrugged, "Me, of course."

"Somehow I doubt that."

"Is that so, I'll prove it to you, right now. That said, I haven't used this kind of weapon in a while." Ace said.

"Let's do it."

"Fine, but no Haki or fire, otherwise we will destroy this forest." Ace reasoned.

"Very well."

Ace moved towards Sabo, attacking with the stick and he dodged it effortlessly and blocked Ace's next attack with his own stick. This went on for a while, the two if them attempting and failing to get a clean hit on each other.

While it was fun, it didn't bring back any memories for Sabo, and tired from all the running around and fighting he leaned against a tree and rested there.

"That was a workout!" Sabo said catching his breath. "You say we did this all the time?"

"Yeah we were really energetic kids." Ace smiled. "So did you get anything?"

Sabo was slightly disappointed that even though Ace had gone out of his way to try and help him remember. He did not want him to feel bad for not being able to get anything.

"No." He said honestly because he did not want to lie. "I didn't remember anything."

"I see." Ace sighed.

  
"Yeah, I'm getting nothing. Thanks for trying though." He said.

"Come on. Don't give up yet." Ace sighed. Perhaps he shouldn't have withheld any information from him. But still, how was he supposed to explain the nature of their relationship to someone who didn't even remember him? On top of that, it was not like the relationship had been defined either, so he really could not tell him anything. "If fighting doesn't seem to bring anything back, I'll have to try something else."

Sabo looked up at him hopefully. "There is something else that we did together?"

"Yeah. You need something that stirs intense emotion right? I hope that this still does." Ace said looking down. Was this really okay?

"I'm ready."

"Okay, you need to close your eyes." Ace instructed, and curious, the younger man complied. Hesitating for a bit because he was worried that he might be doing this more for himself, Ace decided that he had held out long enough. Here was the first person that he had ever loved, standing in front of him, trusting him. If rejection waited at the end of the road, he would have to face it then. Right now, he could only pour out his feelings.

Sabo stood with his back leaning on the hard bark of the tree. He wondered what sort of method Ace was about to try, he hoped that he was not about to get punched again. He felt a hand on his cheek, but before he could open his eyes, he felt the soft touch of someone's lips on his own. Caught by surprise, he blanked out for a second and opened his eyes. Ace did not stop, however, even with Sabo's lack of response. This may well have been the only chance that he ever got to communicate his feelings to Sabo physically if he got rejected.

As if he could somehow feel the emotion that was being emitted from the searing heat of Ace's lips, Sabo felt his heart begin to melt. It was as if all the danger, thrills and reckless behaviour that he had done in the past ten years had been in search of something that would make him feel like this. There was a fulfilment in his heart of something that he had never even known that he was missing. This person, this Ace, seemed to somehow control a switch in his brain because all the turmoil from before ceased and was replaced only with the love he felt blossoming inside of him.


	7. Falling Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace and Sabo try to deal with everything happening between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Caught beneath visions of hatred  
> Drowning fast in sounds of silence  
> Caught between divisions of hate  
> Can't breathe under this weight of existence.."
> 
> -Fear Factory (W.O.E.)

  
_10 years ago_

_Sabo and Ace collapsed under the tree, exhausted from running around so much all day._

_"I managed to make more money than you today." Sabo smiled in satisfaction._

_"Don't get cocky, it's just a fluke." Ace crossed his arms defiantly._

_They were ten years old, having spent the last five years of their lives together, already inseparable._

_"Oh? A fluke three times in a row? Come on, just admit it, you want to beg me to teach you how I do it." Sabo teased._

_Ace raised his pipe attempting to wacky him in the head, but he rolled out of harm's way, laughing._

_"Tsk, I'm going to make more next time." Ace mumbled standing up. "Damn, it's gonna get dark soon, I better go hunting for food for those dumbasses."_

_Sabo looked at him, slightly disappointed and sighed leaning against the tree. "You always come later than usual these days, and it feels like you leave earlier."_

_"It's not my fault. That stupid kid won't stop following me around so I have to use a different route everytime and it takes longer." Ace said with a shrug._

_"Hmm." Sabo pouted, he didn't mean to complain but it felt like he was spending less and less time with Ace and he did not like it one bit. "That's why I said you should just come and live with me here."_

_Ace sighed. "I can't. The old man would hunt me down and kill me if I left home." There is a disappointed look on Sabo's face, and it made Ace falter a little bit. He looked at the setting sun. "I guess I can stay for a little while longer."_

_A smile broke through Sabo's face, gap toothed and excited. Ace didn't really understand his own feelings at the time, but when he saw him smile, he felt the beating of his heart pick up. The feeling was there, of needing to be next to Sabo, to get even closer everyday and it kept growing beyond what Ace could control. At first he'd thought that was normal between friends, never having had any before, but Ace kept wanting more and it turned into something almost tangible._

_On the other hand, Sabo being the smarter of the two kind of knew what he was feeling. Finding a place to belong, searching for freedom was something that he wanted to do with Ace. But Ace wasn't an easy person to get closer too, he kept his walls up, but Sabo poked and poked until they shattered like glass._

_Almost forcing his way into Ace's heart._

_Ace didn't like to be touched unless it was a fight, so Sabo was careful with it, slowly letting him get used to it. A lingering touch once or twice, grabbing his hand when they were running. The touches of others that Ace used to shun, he slowly began to crave from Sabo._

_Now Sabo was saying something but Ace had been too lost in his thoughts to listen. "-think we should buy?"_

_"Huh, what?"_

_"Are you listening to me?" Sabo frowned. "I said what kind of ship should we buy?"_

_"A pirate ship." Ace said without a second to spare. "A big one."_

_Sabo burst out laughing again. "That's an answer that's so typical of you. Why a big ship?"_

_"Well," Ace smiled too. "That way we'll be able to recruit a big crew and I think our adventures will be more fun with lots of people on board."_

_"I see. Well, it doesn't matter to me who we travel with. All I need is for you to be there with me, and I'll be happy wherever we go." Sabo said._

_The warmth of the words he said so easily, the pale glow of fading sunlight on his face, the dark blue sky reflected in his eyes all seemed to pull Ace forward towards him as if by some invisible force. As if by instinct over reason, Ace moved closer, catching Sabo by surprise when he closed the distance between their faces, kissing him._

_It couldn't be called a kiss really, more like he just brushed his lips over Sabo's for a second before stepping back._

_"...Ace...you..."_

_Red in the face and slightly panicked, Ace turned tail. "I have to go home, sorry." The boy who never ran from any enemy fled from the scene like the wind._

_"Ace! Wait!"_

***

Sabo's eyes flew open and he gasped, breaking the kiss.

Immediately, Ace stepped away from him. "Sorry!" He said. "I didn't mean to freak you out! I mean, I should have explained things before...Oh, Shit! I was too impatient-"

"Do it again."

Ace was surprised by Sabo's response. "You... you want me to..."

"I remembered something! We were in a forest, much like this and we were talking about buying a ship and then... then you... you... kissed me." Sabo said, excited in the beginning and slowing down in the end.

Ace smiled. "Yeah! You remember that? That's was the first time I ever kissed you."

Sabo looked at him. "There were other times?"

Looking away, Ace scratched his head. "Well, sometimes you initiated it."

"I see." Said Sabo putting a hand on his lips. "So, we had that kind of relationship too. That actually explains a lot."

"Listen, Sabo. We were just kids, and we never really got to explore our feelings that much, hell I didn't even understand that that was love until I lost it." Ace said. "So, I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything. If you already have-"

"You loved me?" Amazingly that was the only thing he got from that entire speech.

"I.. yes."

"What about now?" Sabo asked trying to find Ace's eyes but he wouldn't look at him.

"Like I said, it was a long time ago and you don't remember it, so it really is okay if you moved on, so don't be too considerate of my feelings."

"What about now?" Sabo asked again, this time turning Ace's face towards him, forcing him to look at him.

Loving and losing, emptiness in his heart, all suddenly replaced with this uncontrollable chill that Ace got from looking into his eyes. There was no way he could deny it.

"I still love you." Ace said.

Sabo's hand trembled while still on Ace's face. Even though Sabo tried to breathe steadily, that was impossible. He could feel the beating of his heart all the way up to his throat. 

"Don't look so flustered!" Ace panicked. "It's been ten years, don't feel bad if you found someone else really!"

"Hey." Sabo looked down. "You said I that sometimes I initiated it, right? Like this?"

Since his hand was already on Ace's face, all he had to do was pull him in a little closer. It wasn't a desperate kiss like the one before it, instead it was a little unsteady, like Sabo was trying to find his rhythm in Ace. Gently, but also firmly he moved his lips.

When he finally let go, he said. "Sorry if that was awful, but just so you know, as far as my memory serves that was the first time I ever kissed someone."

Ace looked at him hopefully, his cheeks burning. "Then you mean..."

"To be honest, I'm really happy. All this time I honestly thought I was asexual. I couldn't find any interest in anyone no matter how hard I tried." Sabo said. "That's probably why it was so overwhelming for me when my mind was suddenly full of you. So this is what it feels like to be in love with someone."

A wave of relief and happiness washed over Ace's body and he wanted to cry out in happiness. He had been expecting rejection, but here he was, being held in the arms of the person he loved.

Being told that the feeling was mutual.

It was more than he'd been hoping for. After years alone and without opening up his heart to anyone, finally, he could be with Sabo again, his first and last, love. He went in for a hug which Sabo gladly returned, he could not be happier. Even in the middle of such a difficult time for him, it was great to have this.

"ACE! SABO! Where are you?" Luffy's voice in the distance interrupted them.

"I guess he's looking for us." Sabo said pulling away.

"Come on." Ace groaned trying to pull him back. "Let him be, he's not a child anymore."

But Sabo dragged him back to camp. It turned out that Luffy had found a red beetle in the forest that he thought was so cool and wanted to show it to his brother. Ace was annoyed, but Sabo found the entire situation quite funny.

The three of them slept outside in the campsite, Luffy in the middle. It wasn't really by choice since Luffy had been holding onto both of them before he fell asleep. Both of them let him, though, after all, he must have been glad to be together with the two brothers that he'd thought he lost.

***  
The next day, Ace and Sabo sat by the beach together, just talking in the breeze. Neither of them addressing the elephant in the room, of what exactly their relationship was going to be, both of them knew that they would have to separate sooner or later.

Sabo sat with his head on Ace's shoulder, listening to him talk about their childhood days.

"...and then you told me to kill him, even though I'd never killed anyone in my life. You hadn't either, so both of us couldn't kill Luffy." Ace said with a smile, absent-mindedly running his fingers through Sabo's hair.

"I see, so that's how I met Luffy. Tell me more, what happened next, I want to know everything." Sabo urged him. "I'd like to know, in case I never remember."

"Sure," Ace said, but inwardly, he hoped not. He could tell him everything, of course, about all the moments they spent together, but it wasn't the same as replacing his memories. Ace wanted Sabo to remember him as he was, the person he fell in love with. It must be hard for Sabo to accept a love in his heart of which he didn't know the origin.

Sabo sat up to look at Ace questioningly as he seemed lost in thought.

"Hey, this is yours, right?" Law said appearing behind them, startling both of them. He was holding in his hand Sabo's transponder snail that he had gotten from Tetsu in Sabaody.

"Yeah, was it ringing?" Sabo asked.

"It was, but Lami didn't want to answer it. Said it might be top secret stuff." Law handed the snail to Sabo.

"Thanks. How is she doing?" He asked.

"A lot better." Law said. "Anyway, I need to get back to her now."

After Law left, Sabo stood up. "I need to return this call."

"Huh? Who is it?" Ace asked, also standing up. "Can't you call them from here."

Sabo hesitated.

Ace raised his hands. "You don't have to tell me."

"No, it's fine. I just need to be sure that no one can interrupt the call since I'll be talking to Dragon-san" Sabo told him. "I haven't reported back to headquarters in a week."

"Dragon, huh?" Ace pursed his lips. "What kind of a person is he?"

Sabo could tell that he was doing his best to hide his hostility towards Dragon. "Come with me to the ship. You can listen in on the conversation if you want. We won't be discussing anything confidential today."

Ace had to admit, he was curious about what kind of a person Luffy's father was. On the way, he asked Sabo something. "So, are you really Dragon's right hand man like Akainu said?"

He laughed. "You could say that. I'm the second one command of the Revolutionary Army now, after all."

"That's cool." Ace admitted. "But how come I've never heard of you?"

"Well, it's easier for the World Government to downplay the rest of us, make it seem like Dragon-san is the only threat. I do have a bounty, but compared to him, I'm just a small fish. I still have a long way to go." Sabo explained. "Anyway, it's better for us to do undercover missions if people don't know us."

"You're very passionate about your work." Ace observed as they entered the cabin. Watching Sabo as he spoke was quite interesting, his face lit up, almost like a child again when he was talking obout sailing the seas.

"Is that so?"

The transponder snail rang as Sabo made the call from the ship.

"Windfall." He said. 

"Rocky plain." The person on the other side of the call said. "Is this a secure line?"

"Yes. I got the white transponder snail from an ally in Sabaody. We can talk freely, Dragon-san." Sabo answered.

"Are you injured? Ivankov said you didn't appear to be so, but you caused a ruckus in Sabaody a few days ago. Well?" Dragon asked.

"I'm fine, Dragon-san." He said. "But is it only me that you're worried about?"

Silence. 

Sabo sighed. "Luffy's feeling better. He's awake now."

"That's...good." Dragon responded after a moment of hesitation.

"If you want to talk to Luffy, I can get-"

"That's not necessary." Dragon said. "He's not a child anymore, he has no need for me."

"But Dragon-san-"

"Enough about that. Make sure you call Koala, she is worried sick about you. And it is not like you to make her worry." Dragon changed the subject.

That's right. His best friend was a bit too emotional, Sabo would have to call her later and explain everything that happened.  "I'll tell her everything."

"Then start by telling me your reasons for doing something so dangerous." Dragon queried.

Sabo took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for involving the Revolutionary Army in the war without clearing it with you first."

"I've never known you to do anything without a good reason behind it. I trust that you were only doing what you thought was right." Dragon-sama said.

"Thank you, Dragon-san." Sabo smiled. "As soon as I'm done here, I'll let you know. When I get back home, I'll tell you the truth."

"Very well."

"Is Koala there? Can I talk to her?" Sabo asked.

"No, we're currently quite busy, pirates are wrecking havoc everywhere after Whitebeard's last words. I sent soldiers to various places to stop them." Dragon informed him.

"I see, so I'm needed back there, right?"

"Only if you're not longer needed where you are. The main problem is in the balance of power in the New World." Dragon said. "According to our Intel, Blackbeard is trying to move in on Whitebeard's territories."

Hearing this, Ace made a sound, and stood up.

"Damn that's awful. I'll be back to help as soon as I can." Sabo proclaimed. 

Stay safe."

He ended the call.

"So, that's Dragon, huh." Ace was standing up now.

"That's him."

"I know you're close to him, but I still can't forgive him. Sorry. He left his son to grow up in a dump like Gray Terminal!" Ace said.

"Believe me, Dragon-san has lived in worse places. It wouldn't do to let a child live that kind of life." Sabo pointed out.

"That doesn't mean that he should abandon him!"

"That's exactly what it means." Sabo argued. "Everyone has to live behind something in order to find freedom. I'm sure that leaving his son behind must have been awful, but he preserved."

"Still-"

"I understand your hostility Ace, but according to what you told me, I left you behind to find my own freedom didn't I? I get that Dragon-san isn't much of a father to Luffy, but that man saved my life. I respect him, hell, he practically raised me." Sabo said honestly. "Dragon-san is the closest thing I have to a father."

"Sabo..." This part, Ace understood all too well.

"Because of him, I've been able to free so many people from the shackles of those above. There's still a lot more that needs to be done, and we won't stop until the whole world is freed from the oppression of the Celestial Dragons." He concluded.

There was a fire in Sabo's eyes that Ace had never seen before. A determination, a dream that he intended to fulfil. It was amazing.

"You're lucky. You still have something that you want." Ace said quietly looking away. Sabo seemed to be very invested still in his mission, and search for freedom. It made Ace a little envious, with his dream of making Whitebeard the king gone, what was left for him? To make things worse, Teach was trying to take everything that he built. Where would he go next, and what would he do?

Ace stood there bleakly, until his felt Sabo coming up behind him, and putting his arms around his waist from behind.

A comforting presence.

"It's okay. You'll be okay too." Sabo whispered to him.

Like that, it was as if a wall came crushing down on Ace. The pain he'd been repressing, the thoughts of his dead comrades, all who gave their lives for him.

"How?" Ace asked with tears running down his cheeks. "Because of me, they all.... my father went there to save me, and he lost his life doing it! I can't help but wonder if I was really worth all that!"

He allowed Sabo to turn him around so that they were facing each other. Being the taller of the two, Sabo brought Ace's face to his chest.

"I believe you are. I risked my life to save you too. To the people who love you, you're worth all that and more." Sabo said honestly.

Still, how precious were those words? Cutting straight through Ace, trying to make him understand.

"What about everyone else? All the islands that Pops protected? You heard what Dragon said, Teach is trying to control them! Our entire family, that Pops built with his own hands, now lost without a father? Who will protect them?" Ace asked, crying into Sabo's chest.

Sabo pulled him back, so that he was facing him. "If you want to honour Whitebeard's death, and if you're so worried about your comrades..." He reached down and wiped the tears from Ace's face. "Then maybe you should protect them yourself."

Ace's vision cleared, and he could see Sabo there, a sad smile on his face. Such simple words, like an easy solution to everything Ace had been agonising over for the past week.

"Myself huh?" He smiled, his tears drying. "That doesn't sound too bad."

A thought occurred to him of how he could do this, considering what Blackbeard had said to him, both times that they had met... he tried to recruit Ace into his crew. Perhaps there was a way he could protect his friends. 

No, Sabo wouldn't like that.

The door to the small cabin burst open, catching them both by surprise.

There stood Luffy, a giant piece of meat in his hand. He took a bite, and looked around. "What are you two doing?"

"Luffy!" Sabo said, as Ace turned his face away to hide that he was crying. Sabo let go of him.

"Hmm, you two are still doing stuff like this? You haven't changed at all." He said in between mouthfuls.

"We spent a lot of time together. There was no way he wouldn't see us once or twice." Ace whispered.

"Well, whatever, who cares." Luffy said nonchalantly. "I came to tell you that lunch is ready."

"Sure, we'll be right out." Ace said, and Luffy skipped away.

"Are you okay to go out now?" Sabo asked a few minutes later.

"Yeah, come on." Ace led him back to the campsite where Luffy was still eating and talking to Jimbei at the same time.

Boa Hancock fussed over all of them, playing the diligent sister-in-law and it was a little weird to watch.

"So, Torao said he's leaving tomorrow, I was thinking maybe I should go with him too, I need to return to Sabaody to meet my friends." Luffy said.

"You wanna leave already?" Ace asked.

"Yeah, I made a promise with them, to meet at a certain place, so I have to go there. I'm sure they're waiting for me." He said.

"I see." Ace said watching him.

"What kind of crewmembers do you have, Luffy?" Sabo asked with interest.

Luffy's face lit up and he smiled. "Ace already met some of them. There's a swordsman who always gets lost, a navigator who loves money, a sniper who's also a liar and our cook loves women. Oh, and we have a human reindeer who's a great doctor and an arch... gio...cheo... hmm what was it?" He scratched his head.

"An archeologist?" Sabo suggested while Ace rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah! That!" Luffy grinned. "The last two are a cyborg who only wears speedos and a walking, talking, singing afro skeleton!"

"Wow, you've got even more of a variety than before." Ace commented.

"Ha, they sound like interesting people. I'd like to meet them one day." Sabo said.

"Yeah, you should totally come, but we're currently separated now, so..."

"That's right, I didn't ask, you showed up at Marineford without your crew, are they okay?" Ace asked.

"I hope so. We were cornered by that admiral at Sabaody, and we couldn't defeat him." Luffy frowned. "But then that giant robot bear warlord made everyone disappear. He sent me flying and I landed here."

Giant robot bear warlord. "Wait!" Sabo said sharply, "Do you mean Kuma? Did you see him? Was this before he lost his humanity?"

"Ah... he was different than how he was in Marineford." Wasn't all Luffy said.

Was it possible that Luffy and his crew were the last to see the real Kuma? Had he saved them as his last act before became a complete machine? Sabo balled his hands into fists. Why did it turn out this way?

"What is the matter Sabo?" Ace asked in corncern.

"Nothing." Sabo stood up, feeling another headache coming up. He could tell it was like all the others before it, and he didn't want to fall apart in front of the others.

He walked away quickly.

***

Ace, of course, followed after Sabo, and he found him at the edge of the forest, looking paler than normal.

Sabo was struggling to keep walking.

 _"_ _I_ _can't_ _find my way to the top."_

There was another voice in his head, and it seemed like the pain would tear up his head.

_"It's empty. No its too cramped."_

He could not shut it out. It was persistent, like him fighting back against the intrusion in his consciousness.

_"Get out!"_

It was too loud. He could barely breathe.

Sabo collapsed on the ground, flickering between trying to stay conscious and getting rid of the voice in his head. Ace ran up to him and shook him.

"Hey! Sabo? What's wrong? It's that thing again isn't it? The effects of time travelling?" Ace asked, but Sabo was unable to respond.

Cursing, Ace picked him up and carried him to the Polar Tang where Law and Lami were.

"Oh no! What happened?" Lami asked as Ace laid Sabo down on the bed next to her in the infirmary.

"You tell me, he said this was a side effect of the time travelling. You helped him with it, didn't you? You must know what to do." Ace said.

"Sorry, but there's nothing I can do for him. It's all in his mind." She said.

"You sent him here and you don't even know how to treat him?" Ace asked furiously.

"Hey, don't speak to her like that!" Law warned him standing up.

"You're a doctor, right? You can fix him. Go ahead." Ace said to Law.

"I'm not a psychiatrist." Law snapped. "I can perform a lobotomy if you want but that's just gonna leave him a shell of his former self."

Ace gritted his teeth angrily, "Why the hell would I want that? Don't you dare. He did this for me, I just want to find a way to make him better!"

"Calm down both of you. The problem here is in his mind, there is a dissonance between his past self and his future self, we need to find a wavelength for them to connect." Lami said. "It is especially harder for him because he doesn't have all his memories, and I sent him back _two years._ I don't think you understand how bad that is. You may not be a psychiatrist but you know how to use hypnosis, don't you Law?"

"Well, maybe. But I wish that there was a single memory that we could use to trigger all of his missing memories. It would give me a better focal point." Said Law.

"There is one." Sabo said, finally opening his eyes.

"Are you feeling better?" Ace asked.

"Not really, but I need to get this over with." He replied. "There is a memory, the one where I saw the news of Ace's death on the paper. I'm sure that will be sufficient to trigger everything."

"Wait a second. That's a really traumatic memory for you, if you-" Ace protested.

Sabo smiled. "It's okay, you'll be here with me the entire time. I'm not afraid."

Ace was hesitant, but with Sabo placing complete trust in him like this, how could he refuse.

Law made Sabo sit down on a chair across from him. The room was quiet and the windows were closed.

"Close your eyes, and relax. Think of a comfortable place for you, and let your mind go there." Law said.

Immediately, Sabo thought of Baltigo, the rocky base of the Revolutionary Army. There was nowhere as comfortable for him as that place. He could almost feel the wind on his skin.

"It's peaceful where you are. Your eyes feel heavy and you may be drowsy. Let your muscles relax and listen to my voice and stay calm."

Calmness washed over him, and he felt at peace, relaxed. But with his mind under control like this, the terrible headache was sure to come even more now and bring with it more mental anguish.

"You had a memory where you saw yourself reading that article, right. Concentrate on that." Law said.

Sabo remembered back to Marineford when Ace was about to die, he had seen himself broken up over the article. He concentrated on that memory.

Lami stood up and went to stand behind Sabo.

"What are you doing?" Ace whispered.

"I'm going to transport both of his consciousnesses to that memory as a focal point. It is both his past and his future. I hope they can merge together there." She said placing her hands on his head.

There was somebody else in his mind, Sabo could feel it. But it was a friendly face, a girl guiding him to the memory that he had forgotten. She disappeared as soon as he saw himself there as well, drawn to this memory, and he embraced it.

_"The ones who died in the war were the Emperor, Whitebeard and Fire Fist Ace."_

Sabo stood still, something stirring in his memory. He picked up the newspaper and saw it _'Fire Fist Ace dies.'_

_"They say Akainu punched a hole straight through his chest."_

"Stop it!" Sabo screamed.

But for some reason he could not escape this reality. Even though in the back of his mind he knew this was not true, he could not stop the pain and grief he was feeling.

 _"No matter how much people reject me and hate me,_ _I'm_ _gonna be a famous pirate and show them!"_

The boy's face came into full view and there was no mistaking it. It was the same as the pirate dead on the cover.

_"Did you guys know? If you share a drink, you can become brothers."_

"Stop it! Please!" The pain was tearing Sabo apart, and could not breathe. Sweat and tears mixed together on his face.

 _"I_ _won't_ _run from anyone, I_ _won't_ _lose to anyone and I will never be afraid of anything._ _I'm_ _gonna make the whole world remember my name!"_

And then he screamed in agony as the memories started flooding back, unable to control it as his mind filled with the memories of his childhood coupled by the loss of his beloved.

 

 

Ace could not stand it anymore, seeing Sabo crying like that over him was overwhelming and sad. He reached out, and held his hand the entire time.

"He's lost consciousness. Set him down to sleep. Let's hope it worked." Lami said.

After letting Sabo sleep for a while, Ace looked over at Lami and said, "Say, do you think-"

"No." She answered at once.

"I didn't even ask you anything yet."

"I know what you want to ask, and no. I can't send you back. I made a promise to someone, no more time travelling. Besides, if you went back to that time, you might end up dying too." She told him.

Ace looked down. "That doesn't matter to me."

"There are some things that we can't change. Like Koware's death, no matter how many times I time travelled, she always died." Lami said. "Sabo could only save you, so maybe Whitebeard's death was a fixed point in time too. Yours wasn't."

Did that mean Pops was always meant to die?

***

When Sabo woke up in the infirmary, it was just him and Lami.

"Look who's awake." She smiled.

"Lami, what happened?" He asked sitting up.

"You fainted, and a handsome boy stayed with you all night." She said.

"Ace did?" He blushed a little.

"Yeah, he didn't tell the little one though, didn't wanna worry him. Well, he's been too busy stuffing his face anyway." She said.

"That's just like Luffy." He shook his head. "How are you doing? How's your wound?"

"I am fine, but Law insists that I need to rest. He keeps hovering like an overprotective brother."

"But you're enjoying it, aren't you?" Sabo pointed out. She was looking better than she had the day he'd brought her here, a little more cheerful.

"Oh yeah, totally." She smiled. "So, what's the deal with you and Ace, are you together or something?"

"Something." Sabo said, and rolled his eyes at the unmasked curiosity on her face. "It's a little hard to be with someone who doesn't remember you. But now that I have all my memories back, things should progress better."

"You're so lucky." Lami squealed. "I'm happy that you got your memories back."

"I'm sorry." Sabo said solemnly. "You helped me save someone I love, but I couldn't save yours. I'm in a better state of mind now, if you send me back, I'll definitely save Koware, I promise."

"Thanks for worrying about me, but I made Koware a promise. I promised that I wouldn't time travel again." She said looking down.

"But-"

"And, maybe this is just me being selfish, but I've mourned her too many times, and I don't think I could survive seeing her die again." Lami finally looked up.

"Well, if you're sure." Sabo said dropping the subject. "I remember when I met you in Dressrossa, I thought we could have been good friends. I just worry about you, is all."

"I don't mind it." Lami said. "It's like having an overly concerned little brother."

Sabo laughed. "If that's how you want to see it."

"By the way, is there like, an application process to join the Revolutionary Army?" She asked.

"Huh, no, do you want to join?" Sabo asked curiously.

"Koware went around setting slaves free, because she was trapped in a coliseum in Dressrossa like a slave herself. She loved freeing people." Lami replied. "Hell, she freed me from eternal solitude, and I was able to live again. I want to carry on her will. She always admired the work you guys did."

"Well, you're free to join us anytime you want, I think you can be really helpful."

"Thanks." She beamed. "But not just yet. I'm leaving today with my brother and his crew."

"You're leaving already?" Sabo was slightly disappointed.

"Yeah. I wanna spend as much time as I can with Law before he goes to the New World." She said. "What will you do?"

He scratched his head. "I don't know yet. I'll have to talk to Ace about it. Where is he anyway?"

"Oh, like I said, he was here all night, but he left as soon as he heard that the Dark King was here."

Sabo turned to her abruptly. "Dark King? Dark King Rayleigh?"

"How many other dark kings are there?"

This could be bad, Sabo thought. Meeting a friend of his father's was sure to be an unpleasant situation for Ace. Would he try to fight Rayleigh? No, in the first place, what was Rayleigh doing here? How did he find them in the first place?

"I have to go find Ace." Sabo said getting out of bed.

***


	8. Eternal Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace makes a decision.
> 
> (NSFW warning, but don't worry, rating is still T)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "All I ask is  
> If this is my last night with you  
> Hold me like I'm more than just a friend  
> Give me a memory I can use  
> Take me by the hand while we do what lovers do  
> It matters how this ends  
> 'Cause what if I never love again?"
> 
> -Adele (All I Ask)

It really was him.

Silvers Rayleigh was here, talking to Luffy and Jimbei like it was the most natural thing in the world. Anger bubbled up inside Ace. Misplaced, he knew, but this was a comrade of Gold Roger's, one who helped him become the Pirate King. By extension, at least in Ace's book, he was responsible for the all the crap that Ace had gone through for carrying that bastard's blood.

Rayleigh spotted Ace coming towards them, and his eyes widened as he watched him approaching. 

"Oh? Ace! This is Rayleigh. He was part of your dad's crew! Can you believe it?" Luffy said, oblivious to the growing rage in Ace's body. How did Luffy and Rayleigh know each other?

"I know." He said through gritted teeth 

"You really look like-" Rayleigh started.

"If you say Roger, I will burn you alive!" Ace shouted. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Ah! Rayleigh was worried about us, so he came to see if we were okay!"

"How nice of Rayleigh." Ace was clearly not buying it.

"Yeah, he is! He saved me and my friends from that admiral too. And get this, Ace, Rayleigh wants me to train with him for a couple of years too." He told him. "But first, I'll need to go back to Marineford and send a message to my friends."

"He wants you to go back where?!" Fire cackled as Ace transformed, raising his fist angrily. But just before he could attack, a hand grabbed his flames.

"Calm down." Sabo said, tightening his grip on Ace's arm. He was glad he arrived before Ace did something stupid.

"Shut up! You have no idea who this man is!"

"I do, so I understand your animosity, believe me, but-"

"No, you don't. Don't say you understand. You don't even know anything." Ace said, trying to break free.

"You're wrong, Ace. I know everything. I got my memories back." Sabo told him.

This was enough to dissipate Ace's anger. "You got them back?"

"I remember everything," Sabo nodded, and let go of Ace's arm, opting, instead, to stand in front him. "So calm down for me, okay?" 

Ace took a deep breath. "That guy, he still pisses me off." He said glaring at Rayleigh, who merely raised his eyebrows. 

"He's not Roger, Ace." Sabo said gently, this time touching Ace's shoulder.

"I know. I know..." He sighed. "But I can't let him take advantage of Luffy."

"Luffy seems to trust him though." Sabo said, and the boy nodded his head enthusiastically. 

"He trusts people too easily."

"Then let's see if his trust is misplaced. " Sabo said, and turned to Rayleigh. "What's your reason for suggesting that Luffy go back to Marineford?.... Ah, sorry. I'm Sabo, Luffy's brother." He extended his hand.

"Hello, I'm Rayleigh." He answered sounding slightly amused.

"Answer the damn question!" Ace barked.

"Well, he needs to make a statement, and send a message to his crew. That place is still littered with journalists even now." Rayleigh paused. "I figured you'd both want to come with him. Sabo, you're from the Revolutionary Army, right? It would be a good time to show solidarity and that your fight against the World Government is far from over. Ace, show the world that you're alive, and pay your respects to Whitebeard. You won't be able to move on other wise."

Ace deflated, letting go of the fist he'd be clenching.

Sabo considered this, "It makes sense. Luffy, do you want to train with Rayleigh?"

"Yeah, in the war, I realised how weak I was. All the people there were much stronger than me, it was naive of me to think I could become Pirate King with just this strength. If it wasn't for you, Sabo, then Ace would be dead right now." Luffy said seriously. "I want to get stronger, so I can protect everyone."

"That's the spirit!" Sabo smiled, vaguely recalling that in the future Luffy had been missing for two years before he returned stronger.

"Fine. If Luffy wants to, then I won't have a problem with it." Ace mumbled. 

"I'll go with you too, I can meet with one of our allies in Marineford and get a feel for the situation outside. " Sabo said.

Something occurred to Ace. "Actually, I'll come too. I need to get the contact details for a certain person, and I'm sure they are keeping tabs on him at Navy Headquarters."

"Yay! Let's all go together and make a scene. I wanna deliver a message to my friends as soon as possible. It's a selfish request, but those guys are used to my whims by now. I'm sure they will understand." Luffy said, smiling. 

But Sabo could not share his enthusiasm. Instead, he was thinking about what Ace had just said, and a thought occurred to him, on just who it was that Ace wanted to contact. 

~

"You're leaving already?" Sabo asked Lami as the Heart Pirates finished packing up.

"Yeah. Our work here is done." She said. "I want to spend some time with my brother and his friends. Besides, they need me to get them through the Calm belt safely."

"I see. Here, this is my contact information. Call me when you want to join the Revolutionary Army. I'll come get you." Sabo said.

"Thanks." Lami said, going for a hug. "And thank you, for saving me."

"Hey, I made you a promise, didn't I? Even though it was to the older you. Besides, I should be thanking you, you helped me save Ace." Sabo told her.

Lami smiled as she pulled away. "I'll see you soon." She waved, getting into the Polar Tang.

"Yeah. Travel safely." Sabo said. He stood by the shore and watched until the submarine disappeared underwater.

***

The journey to Marineford took a whole day and night. Ace found Rayleigh on the deck of the ship, and wanted to say a few things to him.

"Why are you helping Luffy?" Ace asked.

Rayleigh looked up, and sighed. "You already know, he's not ready for the New World." He said.

Ace sat down. "That's not what I'm asking. Why are _you_ the one to train him? What do you want from him?"

"With Whitebeard gone, I'm all the more reminded that I come from an older Era, all my friends are gone, and I have very little to live for. That's why it pleased me to hear that my friend had a son to carry his name, and-"

"We're talking about Luffy, not me." Ace cut in sharply. He had not desire to talk about Roger with this person. All he cared about was protecting his little brother. 

"Very well. Shanks chose that boy, and Shanks rarely misjudges people. I wanted to see him with my own eyes, and I was very impressed with the person that Luffy is. His goal is at the top of a mountain, I want to equip him with the tools he needs to climb it." Rayleigh said with a faraway look in his eye. "You may look a lot like him, but Luffy is the one whose personality is just like Roger's. I want to see if he can reach the top, and see the world as Roger saw it. I'm curious if Luffy will be able to reach that height, and become a king."

"He will." Ace answered without a shadow of a doubt. "He will reach even higher than that man ever did, you'll see. I believe that Luffy is the person that Pops spoke about. Who will come bearing the weight of the centuries, and challenge the whole world to a fight. It's just the kind of thing he would do. Luffy is the man who will become the King of the Pirates."

"You're a good brother." Rayleigh observed with a smile. "On second thought, you have plenty of Roger's personality too."

Ace stood up. "I'll leave Luffy's training in your hands." He bowed. "He's not a very easy person to deal with, but please, look after him well."

~

Sabo, meanwhile was also dealing with a raging sea of his own, a raging sea of tears from his best friend as she cried over the phone. "Sabo-kun!" Koala cried. "I was so worried, so much was happening and you didn't tell me anything! First you walk into the middle of a war and then you challenge the subordinates of a Warlord!"

He supposed he ought to be grateful that they were talking over the phone, otherwise he was sure the girl would be pulling violently on his face right now. "Sorry, but I'm gonna be causing a little more trouble tomorrow too, so stop worrying, I'm okay."

"Are you sure? And what kind of reckless behaviour are you up to now?" She asked.

It was better not to tell her that he was going back to Navy Headquarters. "Oh, you'll see. Anyway, I have a lot that I need to tell you when I see you. I can tell you one thing, though. I got my memories back." Sabo had to hold the snail as far from him as possible so his ears would not be damaged by Koala's screech.

"All of them?!"

"Yeah."

"I'm so happy for you, Sabo-kun! You must be really glad too." She sounded happy.

"I am actually. I found people who are very important to me. And I also remember everything, why I left home and why I set out to sea."

"Wait." Her voice cracked slightly. "Does that mean that you're leaving the Revolutionary Army?" 

"No. I still have a lot of things I need to do." He said. "Don't worry."

"That's good." Koala said in relief.

"How are things going? Dragon-san said that you're on your way to the West Blue? Are there lots of places affected by the recent uprising of pirates?" Sabo asked sitting down on the bed.

"It's really bad right now. I'm sure it will die down soon, but for now, we've suspended our daily operations just to contain it. We need as much help as we can get."

"You need me." Sabo said quietly. He had stayed away for too long. There was a lot that he needed to do, people who needed him. He could not afford the luxury of taking a few more days off.

"Well... only if you can come. You're taking care of Dragon-san's son, aren't you? That's important too." She told him.

"Well, I'll be meeting an ally tomorrow and I'll get a report on which the most affected areas are. I'll look through the files and make balanced assignments for everyone so that we don't neglect our actual work." Sabo said.

"That would be most appreciated. When do you think you'll be done?"

"I'll work everything out soon. I'll probably go back to Baltigo in three or four days time." Sabo said, just as the door opened and Ace came in. He hadn't meant for him to hear that, after all, the two of them had not had a moment to sit and talk about this yet.

"Thank goodness." Koala sighed. "I didn't want to pressure you, but, we actually really do need you."

"Yeah?" Sabo asked as Ace stood next to the bed. "Listen, I gotta go. I'll get in touch again soon, okay?" He ended the call.

Ace moved over and lay down on the bed and put his head on Sabo's lap, looking up. "Work?" He asked.

"Yeah. Listen, Ace-" Sabo started, but Ace cut him off.

"Don't look at me so apologetically. You never made me any promises." Ace interrupted. "You have your life to lead, sooner or later the two of us were going to have to part, that's just the way it is."

Sabo looked down at Ace lying down there, and placed one hand in his hair and the other on his bare chest.

"You could come with me..." The suggestion was only half a joke. The Revolutionary Army would definitely protect Ace after all.

"That's not really my thing. I'm a pirate you know."

 "So?" Sabo asked, knitting his fingers gently into Ace's soft dark hair.

"So... I already know what I wanna do. You helped me realise that." Ace replied, eyes closed at Sabo's touch.

Sabo wanted to ask him what it was but he couldn't, the more Ace said, the more he feared that he would throw himself into the fire out of a misplaced sense of duty. So, Sabo refrained from asking, but a sneaking suspicion lay somewhere in the back of his head, and he pushed it away in favour of a hasty change of subject. 

His gaze dropped to Ace's body, and he looked down at his tattoo. He had not thought much of it before regaining his memories, but now, it's meaning was clear before him, and it felt like Ace was wearing Sabo on his skin, day by day.

"Should I get a tattoo too?" He asked.

Ace opened his eyes and looked up at him. "What?"

"You know," Sabo's eyes darted around. "A tattoo of my name and cross out the A."

Ace gave a small laugh, and Sabo, whose hand was still on his chest, could feel the sound of it through his skin. "It hurts you know. I don't want you crying like a bitch."

"Did you cry?" Sabo teased.

"Of course not!" A huff, which Sabo again felt through Ace's chest as he spoke. His face turned serious again as he looked up. "Anyway, you're not the type to get tattoos."

"I'd get one if it meant that I was carrying you everywhere on my skin." Sabo said honestly.

A breath caught in Ace's chest, and Sabo could even feel his heartbeat now.

"You... the things you say... You're quite the romantic, aren't you?" Ace asked, and Sabo smiled. Immediately, he felt the quickening of Ace's heartbeat with his hand.

"Wow."

Ace's skin burned even hotter as he blushed. "I really like your smile, so what? Come here." Ace pulled Sabo down for a kiss using the offending hand. It was a lengthy kiss that tasted of smiles and anticipation, and Ace deepened it when he realised with a pang that him getting to taste such kisses was soon coming to an end. It made his heart ache and he could do nothing to alleviate it.

~

They did not spend a long time at Marineford. Among the five of them, the weak marines left at Headquarters stood no chance. They paid respects to the fallen, and Ace had to hold back his tears and concentrate instead, on the reason he was here. He would do something to honour those who died in the name of saving him, and he would fight to make sure that they did not die in vain.

While Luffy rang the bell, Sabo went to meet his ally, and returned back to the ship where Rayleigh, Jimbei and Luffy were waiting. Ace was the last to return, and judging by the look on his face, he'd gotten what he wanted. Somehow that made Sabo's heart sink.   
Because he knew exactly whose contact details Ace had just procured, and he was afraid to ask, for fear that his suspicions might be confirmed. 

On the way back to Amazon Lily, Ace made the call. It was  not easy to keep himself calm, but he knew that he had to. So he bit his lip, and swallowed his pride as he arranged a meeting. There would be no going back now, the die was cast and all that was left was desperation. He would spend one last night in Amazon Lily, allow himself to be selfish before casting aside all thoughts of himself in favour of doing (what he believed to be) the right thing.

It was by no means an easy decision to make, but it had to be done. There were many people who had nothing to their names who depended on Whitebeard's name for protection. There weren't many pirates willing to do it for free, so Ace knew that all those places were now fair game.

 

Because their protector Whitebeard was gone. Because of him.

 

He would make it right, no matter what sacrifices he had to make. Even if it meant selling his soul to the devil.

 

He was the son of a demon after all.

 

***

 

Ace had promised to arrive by the end of the week, so he really could only leave either today or tomorrow. He decided that he wanted to give a proper goodbye to Luffy. Sabo was another matter entirely, there was something Ace wanted from him, something that he could hold on to in times of trouble. First, he needed to talk to Hancock and then to Luffy.

After his brief encounter with the Pirate Empress,  (in which she heeded hastily to his request as she wanted to score some points with her 'brother-in-law') Ace pocketed the item he received from her and then went off to dinner.

Luffy went on and on about how excited he was to be training with Rayleigh and how much he wanted to see how much stronger his crew would become at the end of two years. Ace barely listened to the conversation that he and Sabo were having.

"I got something cool I want to share with you guys." Luffy said after dinner, dragging his brothers towards a rock, close to the forest.

"What is it?" Ace asked.  
   
"Look what I got from Margaret! It's a bottle of sake!" Luffy said excitedly brandishing said bottle proudly.

"Oh? Now this brings back memories." Ace said, taking it from him.

"I've got some cups on the ship. I'll go get them." Sabo hurried away and returned with three red cups. He put them down on top of a rock, and the three of them stood around it.

Ace could not help but think back to that day, ten years ago, as he poured the sake into the three cups.

_"Did you guys know? We can become brothers if we share sake cups?"_

It felt like so many lifetimes ago, when they were just three children searching for a connection to someone in this messed up world.

"We are going to be parting again soon, so, it's great for us to reinforce our bonds right now while we're still together." Sabo said, raising his cup.

Ace looked up. "If it wasn't for the two of you, I'd probably be dead, so thank you. Even though you probably won't listen to me, I'll ask you not to risk your lives to save me again." 

"You're right." Luffy smiled. "We won't listen to you, right, Sabo?"

"Of course not."

As expected, these two did not seem to learn their lesson. Well, it wasn't like Ace would let either of them die either. He sighed and raised his glass, "No matter where we are in the world, or what we are doing, the three of us will always be-"

"BROTHERS!" Three cups clicked together and the three young men each drank from their cup.

This was enough, Ace thought to himself. It was enough that he had a place to come back to if things got too hard. The two of them, were enough.

"Hey, you have work to do, right?" Ace asked Sabo when they were done.

"There's not much left. Why?" He asked.

"I need to talk to Luffy, so go finish up, and don't sleep until I get to your cabin, okay? I need you to make time for me."

"Sure. But do you wanna say goodbye to Luffy already? I mean, he and Rayleigh leave in the morning, we can say goodbye to him then." Sabo pointed out.

Ace didn't say it. That he would be gone by tomorrow morning. "You know I hate goodbyes. I'll just tell him anything I need to tonight."

Sabo rolled his eyes. "Well, okay. I'll be waiting for you. We also need to talk about our own goodbyes."

Ace nodded and waited until Sabo was out of sight before he went to talk to Luffy.

~

"Luffy, I'm going to be gone by the time you wake up tomorrow." Ace said, sitting on top of the rock.

Luffy blinked, "You're leaving too?"

"Yeah, I'm going back to the New World, so when next we meet, it'll probably be there." He told him.

Luffy observed him for a second, "But you don't look very happy about it, though, Ace." He said.

Ace looked down. Luffy was always perceptive about small things like this. It was both a blessing and a curse. "Marineford marked the end of an adventure for me. Now, I'm starting a new one, so I'm probably really nervous."

"If you say so." The boy replied reluctantly deciding to take his brother at his word. "Have you told Sabo?"

This question caused Ace to stiffen slightly because he was not planning on doing so at all. "I will. So, anyway, it's going to be two years before we meet again, so make sure you can put up a decent fight at that time!"

"Hmph." Luffy smiled. "Just wait and see. I'll get much stronger and I'll be able to defeat you too! And then, I'll defeat the Four Emperors and become the King of the Pirates!"

Ace could not help but smile at that. "If that's your goal, then we'll definitely meet again on both our journeys." He stood up and held out his hand. "I'll be waiting for you at the top, so keep climbing on the way to your dream!"

Luffy gladly shook it, and Ace said goodbye to his younger brother there.

***

Ace stepped into Sabo's cabin, casting aside all bittersweet thoughts. This was the last good thing he was about to get for a long time. He wanted to make the most of it.

"Hey, where have you been? I finished with my work ages ago because you said I should make time tonight." Sabo said, looking at him.

He smiled. "Don't pout. I have a gift for you." Ace locked the door behind him, and threw a small bottle to Sabo. "Well?"

"A gift?" Sabo examined the bottle. "What is this?"

"Coconut oil. I asked Boa Hancock for some."

"What's it for?" Sabo asked.

Ace rolled his eyes and climbed onto the bed, he lifted himself up on his knees, with each one on either of Sabo's legs, so that Ace was hovering above him. "You're supposed to be the smart one. _What do you think it's for_?"

"Huh? I don't-" Sabo started, then stopped, his mouth almost as round as his eyes as he said, "Oh," in realisation. 

 Colour quickly came to his cheeks and he blinked more times than was necessary. Ace smiled. 

"You're so cute." He said.

"Shut up! You just... just... caught me off guard is all." Sabo responded looking away.

"You got your memories back, and I'm really happy about that, but I figure, since we're gonna part soon... I want to give you a new memory. So... so you don't forget me again..." Ace scratched his head, "Well, it's fine if you don't want to, or-"

"Idiot. I never said I didn't." Sabo said reaching up, and pulling Ace closer to him, kissing him gently. His body was hot, and somehow that heat was familiar and comfortable to Sabo, as if it was a part of him too. A burn erupted somewhere in Sabo's body as Ace removed his shirt, steaming hands running along his bare skin.

Sabo reached out and tugged on Ace's belt, trying to increase the skin to skin contact as much as possible as Ace wasn't wearing a shirt, it was quite easy to get his shorts off. Sabo touched everywhere that his hands could reach, and he absent-mindedly traced the S on Ace's tattoo as if he was feeling himself marked onto Ace's skin. 

More. Ace could  not help but want more in that moment, more than he had ever wanted before. This was the most selfish he would allow himself to be. So Ace switched them around and lay down on his back, facing Sabo.

"Well, go ahead. Or do you not know what to do?" Ace asked, his face flushed.

Sabo raised his eyebrows. "Wait, are you sure about this? I didn't think you were the type to relinquish control."

Ace huffed slightly. "This is the only time I will let you be on top. Just think of it as a gift for remembering me." Inwardly, he thought, 'No, this memory is a gift to me. Something I can hold on to when things get too hard.'

Sabo didn't need telling twice. He immediately began preparing Ace. He knew that Ace was by no means weak, so he had no need to be gentle, if anything, he rather enjoyed seeing him squirm under him. In the back of his mind, he knew something was off, but this was what Ace wanted, so he was going to give it to him. Ace had called this a new memory for him, so he was going to make sure that they both remembered it vividly. Sabo wanted to make every touch count and to make every thrust both hurt and ecstatic so neither of them would forget it.

Ace held on to Sabo's touches, feeling him everywhere inside as if he belonged there. He committed every touch to memory, the feeling of their bodies melting together in the darkness forever etched in his heart. He wanted more of Sabo, more of everything. He had to take all that he could get because it might be the only time they ever got to do this. He had to imprint Sabo everywhere in his being, and leave a mark of himself in Sabo as well. Ace wanted to make this memory eternal. 

When Sabo whisprred, "I love you.", Ace let himself drown in that voice, be overcome with a feeling so pure that he could not dare to forget.

With this in mind they both held on to each other, fulfilling their own desires until nothing was left that they wanted to convey, until they were both exhausted, lying together on the bed. They felt like they had given each other everything that they could at this time, keeping this eternal memory in their hearts. Sabo put an arm around Ace, and in turn Ace placed his head on his chest.

 "Sabo, if you forget me again, I'll kill you." Ace said quietly in Sabo's arms.

"I don't think I can ever forget you again. So don't worry. Instead, you promise me something." Sabo said, hands running gently through Ace's hair.

"What?"

"Don't die again. If you do... I'll probably follow you not long after that." He told him.

Ace sat up, and looked at him. Sabo looked serious, not wavering even a little bit. Something in Ace's heart trembled. Was it really okay for someone to love him this much? To give his life, his sanity just to save his life? A guilty pang ran through Ace's mind at the thought of leaving him behind, but there was no going back now. Instead, he would take this memory to heart, and hold on to it as much as he could. 

"I won't."

It was worth saying those words to see the smile that found its way onto Sabo's face. 

  
He waited until Sabo fell asleep before gently detaching himself from him. Ace stared down at his sleeping form and smiled, committing this to memory as well. As he was leaving, Ace realised just how little belongings he had in this place. It was just the clothes on his back.

The night was dark as Ace made his way to the ship that they had stolen at Marineford. He would steal another one once he got out of the calm belt.

"You were really going to leave without saying goodbye?" Ace stopped short when he heard Sabo's voice behind him.

"I thought you were asleep." Ace didn't turn around.

"Your body is so hot that I woke up the moment it left mine. What was tonight? Was that your goodbye? It certainly didn't feel like one! It felt like... like you never wanted to leave." Sabo whispered getting closer.

Ace tensed up. "Stop it. We both knew that this wasn't gonna last forever." He spun around, and looked Sabo in the face. He immediately stepped back, because Sabo was too close, and he was reaching for him. "Stop it..."

"You stop it! Where the hell do you think you're going with such a conflicted look on your face?" Sabo shouted grabbing his arm.

"Somewhere you probably won't approve of. I have to do this, not even you can stop me." Ace forcefully wrenched his hand away.

"Do you think I'm stupid? I know exactly where you're going. It's because of what I said, isn't it?" Sabo asked. "I said that if you want to honour Whitebeard's you should protect them yourself. That's why... that's why you're going to join Blackbeard's crew!"

Ace blinked, surprised that he actually figured it out. "Well, you really are the smart one. That's right. If I can protect at least half of the people who put their trust in Pops' name, maybe I can be worthy of his death! Teach is sure to go after the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates, if I can deter him just a little-"

"And if he finds out that you're undermining him? In the first place, do you think he'll trust you?" Sabo questioned. "What are you willing to do to gain his trust? Will you be able to live with yourself? The world already-"

"Sabo." Ace said quietly, reaching out to touch his hand again. "Thanks for worrying about me. It's one of the many reasons why I love you."

"That's why I'm begging you to reconsider. If not for yourself, then do it for me, please, Ace."

Ace wanted to. He really did, but he had been selfish enough tonight.

"Thank you for coming after me. The truth is, I actually wanted you to stop me, because I don't really wanna do this." Ace said moving closer to Sabo, tears in his eyes. Sabo reached out, and with his fingers wiped the tears from Ace's face. This was it, he had to do it now while Sabo's guard was down. "I'm sorry, but you can't save me from everything."

"What do you-"

Ace looked into those blue eyes, and forced himself not to drown in them again, instead, he sent a massive wave of his Conquerer's Haki at Sabo. There was no escaping it from this close, and Ace held on to Sabo to prevent him from falling as he lost consciousness. 

"If I'm ever in trouble, will you come and save me again?" Ace whispered into the silent night as he held Sabo in his arms.

 

 

  
"Was that necessary?" Rayleigh's voice said as he came from behind Ace. He had not sensed him at all, but he guessed that he had been keeping his eye on Ace.

"Did you hear everything?" Ace asked, ignoring his question.

"Yeah, are you leaving now?"

"Take care of him for me." He said, handing Sabo over to Rayleigh. There was no turning back now. Ace walked towards the place where the boat was anchored.

"That look on your face, I've seen it before." Rayleigh said.

 Ace stopped walking for a second. "From Roger?"

"Yes. When he told me that he was not going to die, just before turning himself in to the Navy." He said. "Are you also going to die?"

In spite of himself, Ace gave a small smile. "How can I? My life was bought by the sacrifice of many others. I can not lose it so easily. Besides, I promised two people that I am not going to die."

"I see," Rayleigh smiled. "That's good to hear."

"I still don't know much about him but you know, I set sail because I wanted to crawl out from under Roger's shadow. But it is too vast and it's everywhere. It seems like no matter how much I try to run from it, I can't escape it. So maybe I should just stop trying." Ace said, and this time, he did not turn back as he made his way to the sea.

***

Ace was long gone by the time Sabo woke up. His first thought was to find Ace and save him from himself this time.

"Is he gone?" Sabo asked when he woke up. Luffy, Rayleigh and Jimbei were all there.

"Yeah, Ace-san left without saying goodbye. " Jimbei said.

"He probably did not want anyone stopping him." Sabo said getting up. "I'm going to get him back."

"Wait." Rayleigh said. 

 "What is it? You want me to leave him by himself?" Sabo asked. 

"This is a decision he made by himself, if he comes to regret it, shouldn't that be something he does by himself too?" He asked back.

"I can't leave him in the wolf's nest. I'll save him again."

"Save him? Is Ace in trouble?"  Luffy asked. "He said he's just going back to the New World, right?" There was worry on Luffy's face.

"Luffy," said Sabo. "Ace is going to join Blackbeard's crew."

"What? No, Ace-san wouldn't do that. Not after everything that Teach did! I refuse to believe that he would betray the old man like that! I can't imagine Ace-san being loyal to Teach!" Jimbei said.

"Of course not. He just thinks that this is the best way he can protect the people that Blackbeard seeks to oppress."

"But, Blackbeard tried to kill Ace, he's the one who got him arrested isn't he?" Luffy frowned. 

"Yeah, but even that day at Marineford, he tried to recruit Ace into his crew. I guess he must have called and asked if the offer is still good." Sabo said. "I'm going to stop him." He was now standing.

"Wait," Rayleigh stopped him again. "Don't you have your own life to live too? People waiting for you? Things you need to do?"

 _Koala_.

No, Ace had to come first. He didn't want to neglect his duties, but he had to save him. "I do but I can not just leave Ace be!"

"Then let me ask you this," Rayleigh said again. "How long are you going to chase after Ace?"

It was less of a reprimand and more of a statement to get him to think clearly, but Sabo still felt the cold blow of truth hit him hard on the chest. He'd chased pieces of Ace for two years after his death until he was left only a shell of himself. 

Ace was alive now, and that was all that mattered, he hadn't come back to this time to make Ace his, only to save him. And anyway, what could he do for Ace right now? Sabo slumped down on the ground. Ace left because there were people who needed him, and he wanted to save them. Sabo also had people who needed him. He couldn't chase after Ace forever.

"You're right. I promised Koala I'd be back soon. I can't spend another two years of my life chasing after Ace and making everyone around me miserable." He stood up again. "Actually, I better go back now, Luffy you're leaving today too, right? Then there's nothing left for me here."

"I should also be going back to Fishman Island. I need to see my crew as well, and I'm worried about the island now that old man Whitebeard is gone." Jimbei spoke up.

"All my stuff is in the ship Lami and I came in, if you like, I can drop you off at Sabaody. There's plenty of space." Sabo offered.

"Is that so? Thank you very much, Sabo-san. I'll get the ship ready to leave."

"Thanks for everything, Jimbei." Luffy smiled. 

"No need. It is I who should be thanking you. Back in Impel Down, I asked you to bring me to certain death. I survived, however shamefully. Yet I feel, I will be able to lend you my strength once more." Jimbei said. "At any rate, let us meet in Fishman Island, two years from now when you and your crew come to call."

"Yeah!" Luffy said, as the fishman made his way to the ship. "What about Ace?" He asked, turning to Sabo.

"He made his decision without consulting me, I can't do anything about him right now." Sabo told him.

"Is that why Ace looked confused and you look angry?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah." Sabo said. "But don't worry about Ace, okay. Concentrate on your training, and whatever you hear about him, don't take it to heart. I'll take care of him, okay?"

"Okay." Luffy said hesitantly. 

"Sabo-san we're ready to go." Jimbei said.  

"At any rate, I'll see you in about two years as well. I can't wait to see the kind of man you'll become." Sabo extended his fist and Luffy bumped it with his own.

"Thanks for everything."

"Sure thing. Thank you for setting me straight earlier." Sabo said to Rayleigh. Then he gave a short bow. "Luffy might be a bit too much for you to handle, but still, please take good care of him."

"Yeah. Don't worry." Rayleigh smiled, recalling Ace's similar words to him.

 With another wave, Sabo got on the ship with Jimbei, leaving Luffy and Rayleigh down there.

 He would watch and listen, let Ace do what he needed to do. However, if Ace seemed like he was in over his head, Sabo would save him again.


End file.
